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As companies mandate workers back into the office and childcare costs continue to skyrocket, parental leave benefits have become a hot issue in workplaces across the U.S. And as employers debate whether or not it’s worth their while to invest in the perk, one company found that making a big bet on helping new parents paid off in the long run.
In 2019, IT giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise made the decision to expand its leave offerings. Any employee who has worked at the company for more than a year can take 26 weeks of fully paid leave to care for a new child, and has the option of taking additional time off unpaid. On average women at the company take 33 weeks of leave, and men and adoptive parents take about 30 weeks.
“From senior leadership all the way down, everybody gets the same message that if they’re becoming a parent and they want to take the time, that they absolutely can,” Samanntha DuBridge, VP of benefits, culture, and people care at HPE, tells Fortune.
That’s a big difference from the options most working parents have after the arrival of a new baby. Under federal law, companies with 50 or more employees are required to provide workers with 12 weeks of job-protected leave, although workers who take it don’t have to be paid during that time. Less than a third (27%) of private companies in the U.S. offer some kind of paid leave for parents, according to 2023 data from the Department of Labor.
Employees at HPE have some flexibility around how they choose to use the policy. For instance, they can take off for a few months, go back to work, and then take off a few more. They can also work part-time for a period, to make the transition back to full-time easier, a policy that DuBridge says has become “very valuable for people to have.”
The company also provides 10 days of free backup caregiver days per year, either for a child or another family member—a benefit that’s often difficult for HR leaders to convince upper management to provide. Around 78% of Fortune 500 HR leaders say they’ve faced hurdles when persuading higher ups to see the long-term benefits of paying for childcare, according to a recent report from education facilitator Kindercare.
Enhanced parental leave benefits seems to be paying off for HPE. The company says around 88% of employees say that the programs the company offers shows how it cares about the overall well-being of its staff and their families, and 95% says they have the flexibility they need to handle both their professional and personal needs.
“Our parental leave policy demonstrates to team members that when we talk about the importance of well-being, we mean what we say,” says DuBridge.
You can read more about HPE’s parental leave policy here.
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
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