An inclusive parental leave policy can signal that you care about your team's happiness, which helps retain workers, which in turn boosts your company's bottom line. So even though offering paid parental leave as part of your employee benefits package costs money, the price of losing top talent, which could ripple across your company and damage your reputation, is well worth the investment.
Paid parental leave is already available to federal employees, while nongovernmental companies with 50 or more employees are required to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA requires that companies give new parents 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period before or after a child's birth, adoption or foster care placement. Employees must have worked 1,250 hours prior to requesting the leave.
But for many people, three months without a paycheck is not financially feasible. Additionally, employees in companies with 49 or fewer employees are not covered by the FMLA.
Therefore, your company may want to write its own policy.
Developing a policy
Here are some tips for developing your own leave policy:
- Don't assume your policy has to follow anyone else's; let your team be creative. Instead of 12 weeks of paid leave, your company might offer:
- A small portion of paid leave, with the balance to remain unpaid.
- The chance to elect a three- or four-day workweek, with one or two days off.
- The option to postpone leave until the employee's co-parent's leave ends.
- A leave-share program in which parents who work for you give their leave to their partners who do not have leave coverage from their employer.
- Define who gets to take advantage of parental leave (and ask what happens if both parents work for your company). You might define "parent" as:
- A biological mother or father, gender-neutral partner, or same-sex partner
- A stepparent
- A foster parent
- An adoptive parent
- Create a transition program to help new parents return to work, which will increase the odds that they will. (The FMLA stipulates that employees are entitled to return to their previous position or to an equivalent role with the same pay and benefits.) Consider:
- Sponsoring an in-house or community-based parental mentoring program in which parents who have already returned to work mentor parents-to-be or new parents on questions related to juggling parenting and career.
- Allowing new parents to work from home or work part time, easing their way back to a full-time schedule.
- Because every family is different, be sure the policy's language and rules apply regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or family composition or structure.
Above all, be sure to tell your employees that you encourage parental leave. Your leave policy should be included in your employee handbook and updated periodically.
As a final step, refer to the Bipartisan Policy Center guide to determine whether your state has a stricter parental leave policy that supersedes other leave regulations.
Copyright 2025 Industry Newsletters
