A recent study from Parentaly finds surveyed nearly 3,000 U.S. women who took paid parental leave within the past three years to determine what is and isn’t working regarding paid parental leave policies today. The study finds that strong parental leave policies are a must-have for any organization seeking to attract female talent. Most (94%) mothers would consider their company’s parental leave policy when evaluating a job offer today, stressing the importance of a strong parental leave policy to companies’ broader talent acquisition strategy.
For women with access to fully paid leave, continued career progression is their number one concern, above childcare and health concerns. This concern increases for those who take longer leave, have a higher income, and work at larger companies. Many of the other concerns are also professional in nature, such as concerns about how much time to take off, potentially burdening other team members, and the impact of leave on total compensation.
Women may leave their companies for other work opportunities if they don’t get appropriate support before and after parental leave. Given that new parenthood is an extremely vulnerable career moment, new parents pose a massive retention risk for companies. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of new parents consider leaving their company at least occasionally and one-third leave within 18 months of their return to work. Of those who leave, only 4% leave to drop out of the workforce—which means that companies have a great opportunity to improve retention.
Over half of all parental leaves result in team burnout, creating a ripple effect across the organization. Other detrimental impacts to the business can include decreased motivation and productivity for new parents and stalled or delayed projects. 60% of new mothers say their organization is less than “effective” in supporting parental leave transitions and 89% want their organization to invest in the experience further.
Managers have an outsized influence on the overall parental leave experience and can significantly improve career and business outcomes. Although career progression is a top concern for expecting parents, only 20% receive support from their manager in this area–and 69% of returning parents don’t find it easy to have conversations with their manager about what they need to be successful as a working parent. The silver lining? Those with an effective manager are over twice as likely to have a positive parental leave experience in the workplace than those without.
When employers invest in the parental leave experience, the results can be astounding: 67% of women who had “very positive” experiences returned to work equally or more engaged than before their parental leave (compared to 37% of their peers who had poor experiences). And women who had “very positive” experiences were nearly twice as likely to be “committed” or “strongly committed” to their careers after their return.
