Celebrating Fatherhood: 4 Takeaways by 4 Dads

Recently, we held an event exploring the evolving experience of being a working dad – navigating career, caregiving, and identity in today’s professional landscape. The event was held in collaboration with Fiskars Group, featuring a keynote speaker and a panel discussion.

If fathers of today are becoming the caregiving parents rather than the old fashioned, distant breadwinners why are they still so often seen as secondary parents, or assistants to moms?

This was the question asked by our keynote speaker Julius Hurri who has co-written a book on fatherhood called ’Father’s Turn’ (‘Isän Vuoro’, in Finnish, 2025). He noted that not splitting the parental leave or responsibilities equally in the early years is commonly seen as a financial choice, with the fathers often earning more. But he encouraged us to see the time that dads spend with their little ones as an investment rather than a cost. It’s an investment in the dads right to be an active parent and an investment in the whole family’s wellbeing. He also pointed out that having parents share family duties more equally can be better for companies as it widens their talent pool and removes the stigma of a specific groups being a ‘risk hire’ from a long family leave point of view.

We invited four dads to discuss fathers’ roles in and outside of the workplace, how they have split parental responsibilities with their partner and of course, what it feels like to be a dad.

Our panelists all come from different backgrounds and environments and have their unique family and life situations. Their family leave lengths varied from 2 weeks to a year but also their safety networks differ from having relatives step in and help with their kids several times a week to not having any close relatives living in the country to help with babysitting. This discussion was an important reminder that we are all products of our environment.

“Even if it’s a sh** day at work, I get smiles and laughter at home every day.”

Something our panelists wanted to highlight was that even though parenthood is often described as stressful and hard, it’s not just that. Small children give you a balancing perspective: regardless of what hardship or stress you are dealing with at the workplace, at home some giggles will help you realize it’s not the end of the world.

“Although I might have to tone down the career ambition momentarily, I can have other ambitions too, like being a great dad.“

Our speakers pointed out that the kids are small for a very short period of our lives and that helps you see the bigger picture. So you might have to slow down your career ambitions for a moment but that doesn’t last forever.

“You can almost have it all if your time perspective is a bit longer.”

There can easily be feelings of guilt or missing out if you go on a business trip or agree to something that forces you away from the family momentarily. You have to make peace with the fact that you can’t be in two places at once. Once you’ve made the decision you have to stand by it. And then hopefully next time you can choose differently and prioritise wisely which means that in the long run things even out.

“I guess I would naturally be the playful dad, but I want to challenge myself and make sure I’m also the one they come to for emotional support.”

Our panelists had some contradicting views on whether the two parents’ roles should differ, and how much we should lean on what feel like our natural strengths. But they gave us an important reminder that we can also push those roles. All of our dads agreed that parenthood teaches you a lot about managing your emotions, too.

The event was held at the Fiskars Group office in November to celebrate the Nordic Fathers’ Day and International Men’s Day. It was hosted by Liam van Zyl (Fiskars Group) and Henrietta Lehtonen (Rovio).

At Rovio we want to empower our people to bring their authentic selves to work to unlock their full potential for crafting games that connect with our diverse players worldwide.