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Yesterday — 22 November 2024Main stream

Top Employee Retention Strategies for 2024

22 November 2024 at 13:36

Key takeaways

  • Employee retention is increasingly challenging, but employers that adopt a holistic approach, such as improving benefits, offering flexible work, and rewarding and recognizing employees, could significantly reduce turnover.
  • An effective retention plan should include clear goals and the metrics you’ll use to track progress toward them.
  • Employee feedback plays a crucial role in retention efforts, as it provides insights into what employees value and the changes they’d like to see in the workplace.
  • Nov. 22, 2024: Rebecca Noori revised the copy by adding new retention strategies, software recommendations, and fresh data according to the latest trends. She also added depth to the steps required to create your own retention strategy, including relevant questions and metrics.

As an HR and workforce management writer, I have a deep understanding of employee retention and how it supports organizations and individuals in reaching their full potential. I use industry data from leading industry bodies such as Gallup and LinkedIn, combined with practical knowledge from speaking to people leaders about their approach to retention.

11 employee retention strategies at a glance 

It’s not easy for companies to hang onto their workers. The Achievers’ Engagement and Retention report reveals that only 35% of employees plan to remain with their employers this year. Further, 41% of respondents confirmed they would actively seek a new role, while 24% were unsure, suggesting the right opportunity could sway them. 

The numbers seem discouraging, but it’s natural for your people to move on at some point. Nevertheless, several strategies exist to lengthen the employee lifecycle and reduce the cost of recruiting new talent: 

1. Enhance your total compensation package 

According to the same Achievers report, compensation is the most common reason for leaving a job in 2024. This term refers to everything employees receive in exchange for their time, labor, and skills. Typically, total compensation includes: 

  • Annual salary.
  • Core employee benefits like health insurance and retirement planning.
  • Employee perks such as mental health and wellness programs.
  • Bonuses or performance-based incentives.
  • Paid time off and vacations.

Ensure your offering is competitive in the market and geographic area by comparing your package with rivals. If other employers promise higher wages, more PTO days, or a better tier of health insurance, it’s understandable you might be losing people. 

HR software like HiBob analyzes salary data against internal and external benchmarks. A consistent, transparent compensation strategy ensures that everyone is being paid fairly and competitively.

A screenshot of Bob, an HR tech platform showing an employee job leveling framework with salary band ranges.
Bob gives you transparent information about salary bands, compa-ratios, and other compensation details so you can make strategic decisions to retain your best employees. Source: HiBob.

2. Provide role clarity

When employees understand the scope of their role, including its tasks and responsibilities, they’re more likely to feel engaged in their work and less inclined to leave the company. Unfortunately, Gallup’s research finds only 45% of employees are clear about the expectations of their role. 

If this is a problem in your organization, take steps to:

  • Provide comprehensive job descriptions, including the skills, competencies, and experience required for each role in your organizational chart. 
  • Encourage accountability by discussing expectations within your teams.
  • Foster open communication by inviting questions or concerns and being clear about reporting structures.
  • Highlight clear pathways from an employee’s current role to their dream position, using the promise of internal mobility to encourage retention.

3. Invest in employee development 

When employees know their company is committed to their professional growth, they’re less likely to seek career opportunities elsewhere. LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning report finds this is the fifth highest priority for L&D professionals this year. 

There are numerous ways to upskill your employees, including: 

  • On-the-job training where employees work on real tasks with feedback from supervisors or peers.
  • Online courses that are self-paced and suitable for remote teams.
  • In-person seminars, workshops, or conferences, in case employees prefer classroom-based learning.
  • Learning management systems (LMS) for customized development programs that align individual growth opportunities with the company’s business goals. 

As an example of an LMS, 360Learning identifies the skills and competencies required for each role and then monitors each employee’s skills progression. This level of transparency gives employees greater control over their own development, and managers can make objective decisions when team members are ready to advance to new internal roles. 

A screenshot of 360Learning’s upskilling platform showing a list of employees, their roles, and individual skills progression statistics.
360Learning’s upskilling campaigns provide an objective framework for each employee’s professional development and career growth. Source: 360Learning.

4. Offer mentoring and coaching opportunities   

Alongside formal learning, partnering employees with a human-sounding board can effectively keep them focused on their growth. A coach is usually a qualified professional who offers regular sessions to help employees progress in their careers. However, you may also train managers to act as coaches, supporting their direct reports to reach individual goals. 

Mentoring is more relaxed, often pairing a more experienced professional with a junior colleague. In successful mentoring partnerships, both parties will benefit from the arrangement; the mentee receives the support and expertise of a seasoned professional, while the mentor improves their leadership and communication skills. 

The challenge of mentoring is finding the right person for each mentee. Mentorloop is a platform that smart-matches employees or empowers them to self-organize their own matches. Once paired, the software guides the relationship with contextual nudges to keep employees moving toward goals. 

A screenshot of Mentorloop, a mentorship platform, depicting how mentors and mentees can form supportive loops to set goals and attend catchups together.
The Loop is a central location for mentors and mentees to communicate, provide feedback, and track progress toward goals. Source: Mentorloop.

5. Build a supportive feedback culture 

Employees who receive meaningful feedback from their managers and peers feel more connected to their role and overarching organization. The more frequent the feedback, the better; Gallup reports that 80% of employees who receive feedback weekly are engaged in their work, which will likely positively impact retention. 

Software like 15Five supports a culture of continuous feedback by elevating performance in just fifteen minutes each week. Managers can set up objective assessments to evaluate employees without performance biases creeping in, then leverage the actionable insights from employee surveys to improve their own effectiveness as leaders.

A screenshot of 15Five presenting an Outcomes dashboard based on analysis of employee feedback.
15Five recommends actions managers can take to increase engagement within their teams. Source: 15Five

6. Identify clear complaint procedures

Companies with open communication practices invite positive and constructive feedback from employees, understanding that workers at all levels have valuable insights to share. In the case of complaints, employees should be able to follow a set process to raise any issues and have their voices heard. 

You should customize the process according to your HR workflows, compliance regulations, and overall company culture. As an example, this might involve: 

  • Asking the employee to draft a written complaint outlining the situation in question and its impact on their work or wellbeing.
  • Addressing this with their direct manager or HR team.
  • Conducting a review to decide if further action is necessary, including an investigation and potential disciplinary measures.
  • Documenting the results, including any action points.

7. Take action on employee survey results 

Surveying your employees regularly helps you assess their engagement levels and work experiences so you can address any issues that could impact retention. 

But giving feedback takes effort for employees. Whether they’re filling out another survey or following a complaints procedure, it takes time and energy for them to offer thoughtful insights. They’ll quickly tire of the process if they don’t believe there’s anything in it for them. 

I recommend that you prove you’re interested in their point of view by taking appropriate action toward creating a positive work environment, perhaps by: 

  • Hosting focus groups or open forums where employees can discuss concerns. 
  • Creating task forces or committees to improve specific areas of concern.
  • Implementing new policies or procedures to address common issues. 

8. Create opportunities for employees to feel included 

64% of employees feel it’s important to work for an organization with a mix of different races and ethnicities (32% say it’s extremely or very important, 30% say it’s somewhat important). An equal number of people feel the same way about working alongside colleagues of a range of ages, according to Pew Research

However, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) is about more than just checking a demographics box. To retain employees of any background, you need to create a working environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. 

One way to foster inclusion is by creating employee resource groups (ERGs) that provide a safe space for employees from marginalized or underrepresented groups to connect and support one another. These groups also serve as a source of feedback for the company on how to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, for example, by celebrating cultural holidays and events or offering diversity training

9. Prioritize a strong employee experience 

The inclusion part of DEIB starts with a strong onboarding process that sets the tone for a positive employee experience. It might seem surprising that people who have recently joined your organization would consider departing so soon, but Nectar’s research highlights that 29% of workers have quit a job within 90 days of starting. 

Retain your employees for much longer by designing an onboarding program using a dedicated program like Enboarder, which: 

  • Encourages social connections and relationship-building with teammates. 
  • Communicates the company’s goals, values, and expectations clearly. 
  • Uses bite-sized prompts, enabling employees to ramp up and become productive. 
  • Nudges managers to reach out at pivotal moments.
A screenshot of Enboarder, the onboarding platform, showing how new hires can pick an onboarding buddy to reach out to.
Enboarder connects teammates, buddies, and mentors and helps them find shared interests. Source: Enboarder

10. Foster a healthy work-life balance 

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report finds that employee well-being has declined from 35% to 34%. In particular, isolation is a problem, with 22% of the world’s working population feeling lonely every day—this is even higher in remote employees (25% compared to 16% in on-site workers). 

Employers that support their people with their physical and mental health are more likely to retain them over the long term. I suggest you take steps like: 

  • Modeling healthy boundaries between work time and personal time; for example, not sending emails or direct messages to people outside of business hours.
  • Offering flexible working arrangements such as remote work or compressed hours where feasible.  
  • Providing access to mental health resources, such as counseling or therapy services. 
  • Promoting wellness initiatives like physical activity or mindfulness practices.
  • Implementing team workload management strategies to prevent burnout and promote productivity. 

11. Recognize and reward employee contributions 

It’s human nature to crave praise and acknowledgment for our efforts at work. When managers and peers take the time to express appreciation, this reinforces the behavior and ensures the employee feels valued. This has a powerful impact on retention: a recent Gallup study conducted between 2022 and 2024 found that employees who received high-quality recognition for their work were 45% less likely to leave over the two years. 

Employee recognition software such as Awardco makes launching, maintaining, and growing your rewards program easier. Employees receive points within the Awardco platform via social recognition, goal achievements, and service milestones, which they can redeem for rewards like tangible gifts, company swag, gift certificates, and experiences.

A screenshot of the rewards and recognition platform Awardco’s On the Spot Program shows how employees can express praise and gratitude to each other at work.
Awardco users can award points and recognize other employees for hard work and accomplishments. Source: Awardco

5 reasons employees leave

Companies lacking a robust retention strategy experience some commonalities as employees head for the exit. Achievers’ Engagement and Retention report lists some of the top issues: 

  1. Inadequate compensation: 32% of employees seek better pay and corporate benefits from an alternative employer. 
  2. Limited growth opportunities: Career progression is the second most popular reason to leave a job—24% choose this as a key decision factor. 
  3. Workplace flexibility: Companies failing to offer remote work or flexible hours cause 23% of employees to move on. Organizations executing return-to-office (RTO) mandates likely fall into this category. 
  4. Company culture: Factors like culture and values fit were a reason for 12% of people to remain with an employer, while a sense of belonging swayed 13%. 
  5. Manager relationships: Perhaps the most surprising—only 3% of employees chose to leave an employer due to their relationship with a manager, while 8% cited this bond as a reason to remain. 

How to create your own employee retention strategy 

Follow the steps below to create a retention strategy from scratch or revamp any existing initiative you have to retain talent. 

1. Analyze your current turnover data 

Understand your current situation by benchmarking your turnover data. You might analyze how many people have left your organization in the past three to six months and use this as your starting point. 

I recommend the following formula: 

Employee turnover rate = Number of employees who left during the past quarter divided by Average number of employees during the same period multiplied by 100 

Example: If 20 employees left during the quarter and your average number of employees was 200, the turnover rate would be 20/200 x 100 = 10%

As you build and roll out your new retention strategy, you can measure progress against this initial baseline. 

Ready to build a more engaged, loyal workforce? Discover these 6 Strategies to Reduce High Employee Turnover + Free Calculator.

2. Set goals for your retention strategy 

Know “why” you want to develop a retention strategy. This should go beyond the obvious notion of “to retain talent” and link back to your business goals. 

I’m a huge fan of the SMART framework, which helps you select specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. For example, if my organization was struggling with employee turnover, I might create the following SMART goal: 

“Our company will reduce employee turnover from 18% to 15% by the end of Q4 2024 through enhanced career development and competitive compensation strategies. These should boost productivity and cut recruitment and onboarding costs by $50,000 annually.”

This goal is: 

  • Specific: The goal includes details of how I plan to improve team productivity and decrease the costs of recruiting and training new hires.
  • Measurable: I’ll use turnover metrics to assess the progress of the goal. 
  • Achievable: 12 months is a reasonable amount of time to execute the strategy and notice tangible results. 
  • Relevant: The goal ties to our business objective of saving resources and offering an exceptional employee experience. 
  • Time-bound: I have a clear deadline to work toward. 

3. Conduct stay and exit interviews 

Data is an important way to measure the success of any retention strategy, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Every person who voluntarily leaves or remains with your company has made that decision for a reason. Metrics may help you spot trends, but conducting in-person stay and exit interviews will reveal what motivates employees to choose one path over another. 

Exit interviews are held during the last three to five days of an employee working with you as part of their offboarding. Although your team member has already decided to leave, showing care and interest in them at this stage may even result in boomerang employees who rejoin the company later. Ask questions like: 

  • How does your new position align better with your personal objectives (compensation, culture fit, etc.) than this one? 
  • What would have made your experience better here?
  • Can you describe a particular event that swayed your decision to leave? 

Deciding when to host stay interviews is less clear. Some companies I’ve worked with choose to hold them as part of the annual performance review, while others host reactive check-ins following anything unsettling like layoffs or mergers. 

Whatever your cadence, consider a range of questions like: 

  • What makes you excited to work at this company, and what keeps you here? 
  • How does your current role align with your long-term career goals? 
  • How do you feel about your current work-life balance? 

4. Identify retention opportunities

Based on the quantitative data you’ve collected, combined with qualitative human insights from your interviews, spot any trends to act on. 

Example: You may notice an uptick in people leaving for upskilling opportunities with a rival organization. If this is the case, you’ll know to invest more in learning and development programs to entice your employees. 

5. Develop tailored retention initiatives 

The solutions to your retention problems will require targeted initiatives that often require stakeholder sign-off. Some examples could include: 

  • Offering a retention bonus: A financial incentive that your employees take home in exchange for remaining with the company for an agreed period, such as two to five years. 
  • Promoting career development opportunities: The chance to upskill or move around within the organization. 
  • Providing flexible work arrangements: Remote work or flexible hours can improve work-life balance. 
  • Improving company culture: This can range from addressing toxic behavior to promoting a more inclusive environment for all employees. 

6. Measure progress toward your retention goal 

Track some of the following metrics to monitor progress toward your retention goals. These might include: 

  • Employee feedback, including stay interview data to understand if sentiment is improving across your organization.
  • Employee turnover and retention data, compared to the benchmarks you collected in Step 1.
  • Cost savings from reduced attrition or turnover and the implementation of retention initiatives.
  • Employee productivity and engagement levels, using metrics like absenteeism and performance ratings.
  • Employer net promoter score (eNPS) to measure overall satisfaction and loyalty within your workforce. 
  • Employee referral rates to indicate if employees are actively promoting your company as a great place to work. 

7. Refine your strategy 

Employee retention isn’t a one-time project. To hang onto your top talent and reduce the cost of recruiting, onboarding, and training new hires, you’ll need to commit to your retention strategy over the long term. 

Keep tracking your data, collecting human insights, and refining your strategy in response to the latest trends. 

Employee retention FAQs

Retaining workers is essential for maintaining productivity, reducing costs, and promoting a positive company culture. When the opposite happens, employee turnover can result in decreased morale, loss of knowledge and expertise, and increased expenses for hiring and training new employees.

An employee’s decision to remain with a company is entirely personal. What convinces one person to stay may not work for another. However, some common drivers of retention include career development opportunities, competitive compensation and benefits, a positive company culture, and work-life balance.

The three R’s of employee retention are respect, recognition, and rewards. Together, these contribute to a positive work culture where employees feel valued and motivated to stay with the company. Fail to offer these, and you’ll face an unwanted R—recruitment.

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The post Top Employee Retention Strategies for 2024 appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

15Five recommends actions managers can take to increase engagement and retention on their teams. Source: 15Five

What is Parental Leave?

21 November 2024 at 18:28

Key takeaways

  • Parental leave grants time off for new parents who are welcoming a new child through birth, adoption, or foster care.
  • While the United States doesn’t have a federal paid parental leave law, there are several laws to consider while crafting your parental leave policy.
  • It’s important to provide ongoing support to working parents beyond their parental leave.
  • Nov. 21, 2024: Kaylyn McKenna revised the article for accuracy and style. She also added information about the types of parental leave, benefits of offering paid leave, and tips for creating a paid leave policy and supporting working parents. Lauren Hansen wrote the original version of this article, which was published on January 31, 2023.

I am an experienced HR writer with a master’s in Industrial-Organizational psychology. I have extensive experience creating guides and policies around the FMLA and other forms of leave. I also consulted several experts and business leaders to gain differing perspectives and added insights on parental leave policies.

What is parental leave?

Parental leave, also referred to as family leave, is a benefit given to employees who need time away from work to welcome and care for new members of their family. It is similar to sick leave and paid time off (PTO), but the stipulations for eligibility and entitlement are often more nuanced and subject to more legal requirements.

Parental leave is generally provided for pregnancy and birthing, adoption, and foster care placement. It is intended to support family bonding but can also be used for prenatal medical appointments, adoption counseling, pre-placement visits for foster children, and other related absences.

Most countries guarantee some degree of parental leave to all workers, though the specific details of those requirements vary drastically.

Also read: Policies & Benefits That Support Working Parents

Parental leave vs maternity leave

The term maternity leave used to be commonly used to refer to time off given to mothers before or following the birth of a child. It combines parental leave and pregnancy disability leave. However, this term only addresses a narrow set of parental experiences. Instead, parental leave addresses a wider range of scenarios, including adoptive parents and employees who don’t identify as mothers or fathers. 

Paid vs unpaid parental leave

In the United States, unpaid parental leave is very common. Unpaid leave means that employees are granted time off of work but aren’t compensated during this period. Employers may also choose to offer paid leave, giving employees a full or partial salary while on parental leave.

Types of parental leave

There are several different forms of parental leave, some of which you may be legally required to offer.

FMLA parental leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible workers to take 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a range of medical and family-related reasons. For new parents, FMLA leave can be used for family bonding following the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child. 

In order to take FMLA leave, employees must meet the following requirements:

  • They must work for a covered employer.
  • They must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months.
  • The employee must have logged at least 1,250 hours with the employer in the last 12 months.

Your company is considered a covered employer and required to comply with the FMLA if you are:

  • A private employer with 50 or more employees working within a 75 mile radius of a worksite (note that remote employees are counted toward the worksite that they receive direction from).
  • A public agency.
  • A public or private elementary or secondary school.

This leave balance can be used anytime within the first year of the child’s life or placement. It can also be used before the birth or placement, for medical appointments for prenatal care or time off due to pregnancy complications.

Parental FMLA leave can also be taken as intermittent leave or reduced schedule leave if agreed upon between employee and employer. In these formats, leave is broken up into smaller increments and used either on a recurring reduced schedule basis or an as-needed basis rather than all at once.

State parental leave programs

Some states also have their own paid parental leave programs. Currently, 10 states and the District of Columbia have active laws providing mandatory paid family leave for eligible employees:

  • California.
  • Colorado.
  • Connecticut.
  • Kentucky.
  • Massachusetts.
  • New Jersey.
  • New York.
  • Oregon.
  • Rhode Island.
  • Washington.

A handful of other states have passed laws that will be going into effect in the coming years. If you operate in one of these states, you’ll want to keep track of the effective dates and make sure you update your policies appropriately:

  • Delaware (effective January 1, 2026).
  • Maine (effective May 1, 2026).
  • Minnesota (effective January 1, 2026).
  • Maryland (effective July 1, 2026).

In addition, several states have voluntary parental leave laws that permit and regulate the sale of paid family leave insurance that may be used for parental leave:

  • Alabama.
  • Arkansas.
  • Florida.
  • New Hampshire.
  • Tennessee.
  • Texas.
  • Vermont.
  • Virginia.

Employer parental leave policies

Employers can create their own internal policies to supplement the legally required leave options, such as by offering paid leave or short-term disability insurance to supplement an employee’s income during their time off. This can be a great way to make your company stand out as an employer to attract and retain top candidates.

The SHRM 2024 Employee Benefits Survey found that 40% of employers are currently offering paid parental leave policies, though these policies can vary widely.

Companies with internal leave policies

Here are some examples of companies offering their own internal parental leave policies:

  • Google: Google takes a split approach by offering 24 weeks of paid parental leave for a birthing parent and 18 weeks for other parents.
  • Pinterest: Offers a minimum of 20 weeks off for new parents (through birth or adoption), but gives an extra 12 weeks off to parents with babies in the NICU. New parents are also granted a four week transition period where they can ease back into work on a reduced schedule. They also offer four weeks of paid leave for pregnancy loss through miscarriage. This policy is really well-rounded in addressing different potential pregnancy and birthing outcomes, the needs of adoptive parents, and provides support during the transition back to work.
  • Lalo: This baby product brand gives new parents 12 weeks of paid parental leave and offers flexibility during the transition period afterward. The company provides flexible working hours (in addition to its normal remote work flexibility), to help parents through the transition back to work after leave.

Benefits of offering parental leave

Offering parental leave doesn’t just benefit employees. It can also have a positive impact on your organization.

In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 74% of employees responded that it’s extremely important or very important to them to have access to paid parental, family, or medical leave through their employer. However, many employers still don’t offer paid family or parental leave. This means that offering this paid benefit is a great opportunity for you to stand out from competitors to attract and retain top talent.

Welcoming a new member into the family is an exciting time, but it’s also tiring and stressful for new parents. Parental leave allows employees to take time away to focus on their family and adjust to the change. Without it, employees would be coming to work stressed, exhausted, and overwhelmed, which is not good for their well-being or their work performance.

Offering parental leave makes it easier for parents to stay in the workforce and makes your organization more inclusive. Historically, women have been the ones to be pushed out of the workforce after having or adopting a child. With parental leave policies and workplace programs to support working parents, your organization can maintain gender diversity in the workplace and build an inclusive environment.

Common barriers to parental leave

Despite legislative protections, employees in the U.S. often underutilize parental leave benefits for a variety of reasons. They may face financial hardship if they take unpaid leave, be ineligible to receive leave benefits, or fear the indirect career impact of taking extended time away from work.

Here are some obstacles to consider when crafting or revising your organization’s parental leave policies.

Taking unpaid leave isn’t financially feasible for all employees. 70% of employees report that they can’t afford to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, as they have insufficient savings to support them during their leave. If your company is only offering unpaid parental leave, your team may not be able to afford to take their full leave balance, and may be forced to return to work early to resume earning money. This adds to the stress of being a new parent and impedes on essential family bonding time.

Many parental leave policies are geared toward mothers and pregnant women, which inadvertently excludes a large population of employees who would benefit from similar accommodations. Revising policies to include non-binary, adoptive, and non-birthing parents helps ensure a broader group of employees are able to care for their families.

Eligibility requirements may also reserve paid parental leave benefits for employees with more tenure or seniority. New hires, hourly workers, and junior employees may be unable to take paid leave despite their family planning goals.

Additionally, most parental leave policies don’t give time off to parents dealing with pregnancy loss or infertility issues. Expanding eligibility to include a wider range of family planning scenarios allows those employees to take the time off they need to be more present and productive while at work.

Parental leave policies may not be effective if your company culture makes it difficult for eligible employees—especially women and minorities—to take time off. In many cases, working parents are hesitant to take leave that’s available to them if they fear how it will affect their job security and prospects for career advancement.

This is often regarded as the “motherhood penalty,” where implicit biases mean women with children are less likely to receive promotions, job offers, and other opportunities because they are perceived as less committed to their work. Creating equitable policies and a company culture that encourages employees to take time off can help minimize this barrier.

Tips for creating a paid leave policy 

Ready to build your own paid leave policy? Here are our top tips to build a thorough and effective policy.

Ensure that your policy complies with any applicable federal, state, and local laws. Keep in mind that this may mean that you need to have different versions of your parental leave policy if you employ people across multiple states. Many states also have new policies, such as Minnesota’s Paid Leave Law, scheduled to go into effect in the next two years, so you’ll want to stay up to date on any legislative changes and deadlines to update your policy.

Whether you’re creating a new policy or updating an old one, ask employees for feedback. You can solicit advice on the length of leave, what barrier employees are facing that may prevent them from taking leave, and what kind of support they’d like to see when they return from parental leave.

“A comprehensive parental leave policy should be clearly written and easily accessible to all employees, with defined eligibility criteria, leave duration, pay replacement, and return to work options,” says Seth Turner, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of AbsenceSoft.

Your policies should clearly explain what leave benefits are available and who is eligible for leave. It’s also helpful to explain how employees should go about requesting parental leave, such as who they need to notify and how much advance notice is required.

“At its core, such a policy should embrace inclusivity by recognizing various family structures. This means using gender-neutral terminology and ensuring provisions are available for all types of parents,” explains Beth Hanson, Vice President of Talent in Human Resources at DeVry University.

You’ll want to make your policy available to parents of all genders and all family types, including those who are welcoming a child through surrogacy, adoption, or fostering.

It’s important to review and update all of your key policies (and your employee handbook itself) on a regular basis. Aim for at least once a year, and update more promptly whenever a legal change occurs.

“Continuous evaluation and communication of the policy are crucial. Regularly updating the policy based on employee feedback and changing legal requirements demonstrates a commitment to adaptability and responsiveness to workforce needs,” adds Hanson.

Supporting working parents beyond parental leave

Supporting parents doesn’t end with parental leave; you’ll also want to have tools and policies in place to support employees’ transition back into the workforce and throughout their parenting journey.

“Without the proper resources and support, these 12 weeks speed by, and the parents return to work exhausted, confused, and weary about how to balance it all,” shares Christine Landis, founder of Peacock Parent Inc.

Employers should consider how to ease employees back into work after their leave ends, and how to provide ongoing support through options like flexible schedules and remote work policies to help working parents balance their job and growing families. Benefits like employee assistance programs can also support working parents by providing assistance in locating childcare.

Mark Whitley, Founder and CEO of Whits Services Corporation notes how his company manages that transition period; “We’ve put together some support that really makes a difference. Think flexible hours or coming back part-time at first. Plus, we hook up our teams with resources like childcare and someone to talk to if it’s all getting a bit much.”

Many HR software providers, like Gusto, offer features that help businesses support parents through 529 college savings plans, reimbursement programs, and paid leave alongside traditional employee benefits.

Keep track of your employees’ leave balances with these 5 Best Leave Management Software.

The post What is Parental Leave? appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

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