A document to help you set your company's parental leave policy. Focused on small / medium companies in the US. Feel free to copy any and all parts of this.

FYI - all template values are wrapped in double curly braces like {{ value }} - replace these before sending off.

Contributions welcome

As {{COMPANY}} grows (yay!) it becomes necessary to revisit decisions that were made in previous stages or sometimes make new decisions for the first time. When it comes to Parental Leave (PL) we’ve reached a point where it’s time to define our policy with something that will keep us competitive both for attracting new employees and retaining existing.

In this document we will lay out an argument for why the current policy (no paid parental leave) is doing a disservice to the company and how the company would benefit from adopting a new policy more in line with its size, stage, peers and the overall market.

We propose the company adopt a policy of {{6 weeks (adjust based on your situation)}} paid time off to be used by the child’s first birthday as a universal parental leave policy.

We reached this conclusion after conducting research into the general market of parental leave, what the current state of academic research says about optimal leave, looking at how parental leave has impacted other companies, and evaluating our overall compensation.

1. We need to remain competitive in hiring and retention as we grow

   1. “If you don’t have a policy written out and visible where people can see it, potential candidates will assume you offer nothing.” [1]

2. More engaged employees, better morale, lower turnover costs

   1. “Generally speaking, organizations' main concern is the cost of paid parental leave programs. A lot of companies will say, "There's no way I can afford to offer so much leave, but, then, what? They don't understand they'll often have to pay more if talented, skilled and very valuable employees leave” [8]
   2. “According to research from the Center for American Progress, it costs approximately 20 to 150 percent of an employees' salary to replace them.” [9]

3. Because of inaction at the federal level it is up to company’s themselves to help lead America forward from being one of only 2 industrialized nations to offer zero paid maternity leave

   1. “Out of 185 countries and territories in the world surveyed by the International Labor Organization, the United States is one of only two countries to offer no federal paid maternity leave (the other is Papua New Guinea).” [4]
   2. 
   3. chart source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/maternity-leave-paid-parental-leave-_n_2617284.html

4. A survey of tech companies of similar size shows an average paid leave policy of {{12 weeks (this was from a ~60 person tech startup, your research may vary)}}. These are the sorts of companies we compete against for talent. [7]

5. Allowing an employee to split up the leave over a year can actually benefit the company as it encourages them to spread out their leave like they would regular PTO. This can mean that rather taking one giant chunk of leave which could require an expensive replacement the company can essentially absorb the time off as it’s spread out over time into little chunks here and there.

   1. “The cost of paying for Lee’s maternity leave was much more cost-effective than losing and trying to replace a vital employee.” [13]

6. Setting the policy the same for men and women encourages gender equity across the board in compensation.

7. Because our company generally offers {{low to mid market benefits}} it can be tough to attract and retain the best talent. Improving our parental leave policy is a first step in bringing our total compensation in line with market.

   1. “It’s Not Okay to Not Have a Parental Leave Policy” [11]
   2. “I wish I had known five years ago, as a young, childless manager, that mothers are the people you need on your team. There’s a saying that ‘if you want something done then ask a busy person to do it.’ That’s exactly why I like working with mothers now.” [12]

1. Why we offer parental leave: https://www.aerofs.com/parental-leave-at-aerofs-md/
2. Startup fathers need to start taking parental leave: https://blog.ltse.com/startup-fathers-need-to-start-taking-parental-leave-d08acdd9a430
3. Mark Zuckerberg signs off for month to go on paternity leave: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/04/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-is-taking-off-december-as-paternity-leave.html
4. A Patagonia VP explains a seemingly counterintuitive business decision that helped the company triple its profits (spoiler alert: parental leave): http://www.businessinsider.com/business-decision-that-helped-patagonia-triple-its-profits-2016-3?sf22196977=1
5. The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/upshot/the-economic-benefits-of-paid-parental-leave.html
6. When Google increased paid maternity leave, the rate at which new mothers quit dropped 50%: https://qz.com/604723/when-google-increased-paid-maternity-leave-the-rate-at-which-new-mothers-quit-dropped-50/
7. Parental leave in tech: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GKWqhc3FVtSVKRZNBxyfwZ_QrB1f-i1T0-yBJ6X_YHM/edit#gid=0
8. Lack of Parental Leave Drives Employee Turnover: https://www.cio.com/article/2840574/staff-management/lack-of-parental-leave-drives-employee-turnover.html
9. There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees: https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf
10. Family Leave at Buffer: https://open.buffer.com/family-leave-at-buffer/
11. It’s Not Okay to Not Have a Parental Leave Policy: https://www.cindyalvarez.com/its-not-okay-to-not-have-a-parental-leave-policy/
12. Female Company President: “I’m sorry to all the mothers I’ve worked with”: http://fortune.com/2015/03/03/female-company-president-im-sorry-to-all-the-mothers-i-used-to-work-with/
13. How Our Small Startup Affords to Offer Maternity Leave: https://www.fastcompany.com/3043764/how-our-small-startup-affords-to-offer-paid-maternity-leave
14. Strong Families, Strong Business: A Step Forward in Parental Leave at Etsy: https://blog.etsy.com/news/2016/strong-families-strong-business-a-step-forward-in-parental-leave-at-etsy/
15. Center for Parental Leave Leadership: http://cplleadership.com/
16. Sweden Finds a Simple Way to Improve New Mothers' Health: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/upshot/sweden-finds-a-simple-way-to-improve-new-mothers-health-it-involves-fathers.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
17. Paternity Leave Was Crucial After the Birth of My Child, and Every Father Deserves It: https://parenting.nytimes.com/work-money/alexis-ohanian-paternity-leave
18. Why Walmart Expanded Parental Leave — and How to Convince Your Company to Do the Same: https://hbr.org/2018/03/why-walmart-expanded-parental-leave-and-how-to-convince-your-company-to-do-the-same