When Joe Schroeder became a father in February, he did something a lot of working men in the United States only dream of: He took off from work for three months to stay home with his wife and newborn daughter, Alma Lucette.
It was a "blissful" period, he said. He cooked breakfast and dinner nearly every day, something he never does when he's working. He perfected his diaper-changing technique. He took long walks with his wife and daughter around their home of Greensboro, North Carolina, occasionally stopping for lunch.
Best of all, he got to spend hours holding his daughter and getting to know her without pressure to be anywhere else in the world.
"I wouldn't say it was like a vacation; it was all we could do to keep up with having a brand new baby. But I can't imagine doing it any other way," he said.
His experience is far from the norm in the United States, which,unlike most countries in the world, does not provide paid leave for mothers or fathers around the birth or adoption of a child. The nonprofit Schroeder works for falls into a minority of just 11.4% of workplaces in the United States that provides paid leave for its employees, according to Department of Labor statistics.
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