A UAE government drive to help parents thrive in the workplace and at home is encouraging more fathers to put families first.
The Parent-friendly Label programme – launched by the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) and extended across the Emirates in 2022 – is making progress in its mission to improve work-life balance.
Businesses enrolled in the Parent-friendly Label scheme receive either a Parent-friendly label or a Parent-friendly Plus label for meeting criteria such as flexible policies for working hours and maternity leave of at least 90 days. An impact report released by the authority in November found that 74 per cent of fathers felt encouraged to take paternity leave by their employers.
As the UAE marks Father’s Day on Sunday, a leading figure at the ECA said attitudes are shifting but that there are barriers still to break down.
“Fatherhood in the UAE is no longer defined by provision alone,” said Ali Aljneibi, Strategy Success Director at the ECA. “It is increasingly shaped by presence, participation and partnership in raising the next generation.”
Fathers in the UAE – both citizens and residents, in both the public and private sectors – are entitled to five days of fully paid paternity leave. But Mr Aljneibi said some fathers are reluctant to take paternity leave or adopt flexible working arrangements when offered.
“Many working fathers continue to face an expectation that professional commitments should take precedence over caregiving responsibilities,” Mr Aljneibi said. “Even when parental leave or flexible working arrangements exist, some fathers hesitate to use them because of concerns about workload, career progression or workplace perceptions.”
Being part of family life
Zaigham Burney, head of food service for the GCC and South Africa at Kraft Heinz, said becoming a father changed the way he views both work and leadership.
“Fatherhood taught me many lessons, but one of the most important ones is that presence is a resource, not just time,” he said. “As my children are still young, I have quickly learnt that being physically available but mentally absent, distracted by a deadline or a difficult conversation, helps no one.”
The experience also changed how he manages teams.
“I try to focus on output, not optics,” he said. “I try to normalise and integrate the school pickup and the morning scramble rather than treating them as apologies that need to be made,” he said.
“Most importantly, fatherhood gave me empathy that no management course could. You stop seeing work-life balance as a policy question and start seeing it as a human one.”
Stepping up support
Employers across the UAE are increasingly expanding support for fathers.
Among organisations recognised through the Parent-friendly Label programme, some offer paternity leave that goes beyond statutory requirements. Procter & Gamble and SLB provide eight weeks of paid paternity leave, while HSBC offers four weeks and Kraft Heinz provides three weeks alongside flexible working arrangements.
For Rashed Al Sadiq, chief human resources officer for the UAE and Gulf region at Procter & Gamble, fatherhood reinforced the importance of creating workplaces where employees do not feel forced to choose between career success and family life.
“I have learnt that I don’t need to choose between being successful at work or showing up at home for the moments that matter,” he said. “Fatherhood has taught me that balance is important and the freedom to have that balance is a key indicator of how we support working parents in the workplace.”
The lesson now informs the way he approaches workplace policies.
“When we design policies, benefits and flexible ways of working, it is about how much balance we are providing to help parents be present in the meaningful moments with their families throughout different life stages,” he said.
Dany Rahal, UAE Managing Director at SLB, a tech-focused oilfield services company, said fatherhood changed his approach to workplace leadership. “It has reinforced that consistency in showing up matters more than saying the right things,” he said. “Behind every role is a life beyond work – family, commitments and priorities that matter.”
Supporting working parents is about more than flexibility, he added. “It is about fostering an environment where individuals do not feel compelled to choose between professional effectiveness and personal presence.”
Since launching in 2021, the Parent-friendly Label programme has supported more than 175,000 working parents across the UAE. The initiative is now expanding to include government entities through a pilot programme being conducted with the Ministry of Family, as part of the UAE’s Year of the Family 2026.