Paid Maternity Leave in 'Best Practice' Organisations: Introduction, Implementation and Organisational Context

To date, Australia has no national paid maternity leave scheme, and access to such leave remains limited. In the private and community sectors in particular, workplace provision of paid maternity leave relies on individual enterprise initiatives. However, we still know relatively little about why and on what basis individual enterprises introduce paid maternity leave. Drawing on case studies of seven 'best practice' enterprises that introduced or increased their provision of paid maternity leave, this paper outlines the diverse rationales and contexts that shape such organisational decisions and the ways in which they are implemented. Paid maternity leave remains fundamental to realising equal employment opportunity for women, yet the research fi ndings suggest that its potential effect can be constrained by limits on formal entitlement and the basis for leave as well as by the practical availability of other work-family benefits.