Strengthening the essential role of parents in the family

Some time ago we established the need to balance the personal and professional life of our employees, and to achieve this we created the Quality of Life Benefits that, over time, became a part of part of the corporate culture at Enel Colombia. As a result of these efforts, we have received recognition as a Family-Responsible Company, a seal that is awarded to companies whose practices promote such balance, as well as the Equipres Gold Seal, the highest distinction in matters of equity in the workplace.

In the process, we understood that these benefits, which historically have been granted to mothers, should also be used by the men and fathers of our company. However, almost immediately we found an indicator that showed that, in a workforce consisting of mostly men, we were not having the expected impact. Men were making use of the benefits offered, but to a much lesser extent than women.

The responsibility of children is a shared effort

With this premise, we had to get men to understand that they could also benefit, making them aware of the fact that, having acquired the role of provider for the home, they no longer had the possibility of accompanying their children when they get sick, helping them with homework, or accompany them to their first day of school.

It was a great challenge, mainly because the issue of gender inequality is embedded in the deepest roots of our and almost all societies. Therefore, we had to educate ourselves about it and we began to see a change in the use of these benefits by men, who understood that using them not only allowed them to be more present in the lives of their children and in the dynamics of their homes, while also benefiting their families.

On this path that we have begun to consolidate to empower fathers, is Fernando Torres, first-time father of twins and head of the Operations Division in charge of the entire Bogotá and Cundinamarca system for our 3,600,000 customers (a real-time job, 24 hours a day). He is married to Mónica Pineda Montes, who also works at Enel Colombia and is part of the High Voltage Operating Unit. They met at the company and formalized their relationship almost two years ago. A year ago, when they became pregnant, they decided to buy an apartment for all three, but at six weeks they found out they were having twins and the news changed all their plans.

Thiago and Matheo were babysitter babies. They were born premature and spent 18 days in the ICU, while they continued their development. Under these conditions, Fernando made use of a benefit that allowed him to be present with his children and wife during a time that was decisive for the babies, their first 8 days of life: the parental program for fathers, which gives our employees 3 more days than stipulated by law.