Alexis Ohanian opens up about paternity leave, male success

Alexis Ohanian opens up about paternity leave, male success

PanARMENIAN.Net - Reddit co-founder, Armenian-American entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian has opened up about paternity and male success, expressing support for a federally mandated parental leave.

In an interview with The Guardian, Ohanian said he’s still grappling with the profound awareness of his own mortality that came with the news three years ago that he and his wife, tennis star Serena Williams were going to have a baby.

The U.S. is one of only three countries in the world not to have any federally mandated parental leave, and the vast majority of American workplaces do not offer it.

But things were different for Ohanian, who was able to take 16 weeks’ paid paternity leave from his then employer Reddit (he now works full time for Initialized Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund which he also co-founded).

“I learnt how to do a diaper and I learnt how to do all these things and just get comfortable with this tiny little person that I was now responsible for,” he said.

It’s also valuable for employee retention and productivity. “My instinct here is that yes, an employee will be more productive if they have some sense of peace over how their castle is doing, how their home is doing.”

Initialized Capital offers 16 weeks’ paid parental leave. Last year, a quarter of their employees – including three fathers – took it. Ohanian, who refers to himself as a “business dad”, has also started investing in “family tech” companies like The Mom Project, a recruitment service for mothers, and the childcare app Kinside.

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