How Much Parental Leave Is Appropriate?
To start with, this post is geared towards the United States, since the US has a fairly low (12 weeks) legally required leave period. I should also say we need to admit that there should be a balance in parental leave policies between being fair to the parent and fair to the company. It’s easy to look at the company as the million dollar money making machine that’s cold and heartless to it’s employees, but let’s remember that the purpose of a business is to make money, and you can’t make money if you don’t have employees. So, let’s establish that both parties have conflicting but legitimate standpoints.
photo credit: TravelSeminar
That being said, I’d like to make a case for why companies should be willing to allow employees to take reasonable (let’s say 6-12 months) of leave on the birth or adoption of a child.
First and foremost, having a short leave period has a few inherent negative aspects:
- Employees don’t like it and don’t think its fair - unhappy employees are never good for business.
- Companies have two methods, both poor, for covering an employee’s absence - they hire a temp who takes 12 weeks just to be trained or they ask another employee to fill in thus overworking and stressing them.
- Female employees may feel they’ve left their child too soon - why shouldn’t they feel this way? I’ve seen this situation, and I’ve seen an employee be very vocal about about their feelings. This does not improve moral in the department or engender loyalty to the company.
- It just feels icky - the only reason for bringing someone back from a pregnancy quickly is to put them back to work. In other words, it’s a strictly business decision with no regard for human rights.
Now, why should a company have a 6 to 12 month leave period?
- It’s employee friendly - not only does an employee get to spend time with their new born, but they essentially get a sabbatical from work and return fresh.
- It allows the company to hire and fully train a new employee - in most cases, after 6-12 months due to attrition and growth there will be a position available for that employee. Consider it an opportunity to build the pipeline and save on additional recruiting and training costs.
- If you don’t want to hire someone, it serves as a nice excuse to do some job rotations. Sometimes 6-12 months in a new job is a perfect way to jump start a stagnating employees.
- For female employees, they are less likely to quit the company at the end of the leave period. Yes, some companies will try to push a pregnant women out the door or find creative ways to make her unwelcome, but women will sometimes swear they are returning just to keep their benefits, then resign prior to their return date. This door swings both ways. Given a reasonable leave period and humane treatment, of course they will be more likely to return. Why lose an employee if you don’t have too.
- It feels good - shouldn’t you be able to go home at the end of the day and feel good about your job and the company you work for.
I know what you’re saying, “who’s going to pay for this?”. Well, usually short term disability plans will pay for the first 6-8 weeks and employees can often use their remaining paid time off to cover a few weeks. In short, employees can often make it to the 12 week FMLA alottment without taking much unpaid leave. So, why should the company pay the other 3-9 months? Let’s be frank here, companies spend lots of mony on relatively frivolous things like office parties and community sponsorships. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t do these things, but if you asked the average employee whether they’d want a holiday party or extra paid parental leave, I know which they’d choose. Also, you could ethically reduce the employees pay to 66% or 75%, thus making it more palatable from a business standpoint.
In summation, I think it’s time that companies start to weigh their spending decisions against humane ethical policies and practices. Even if the company can’t afford to allow a 6-12 month leave policy, they should ask themselves which is more important, allowing employees to fly first class or giving an extra month’s leave to new parents.
