Key Points
Parents with 12+ weeks of paid leave are 80% less likely to quit their jobs.
Training managers to support parent employees reduces stigma around taking leave.
Paid leave is an investment, with an estimated $2.57 return for every dollar spent.
Dads with paid leave bond more with kids and help moms transition back to work.
The research on paid parental leave is robust—having at least 12 weeks of paid leave is beneficial for parent employees, their families, and employers. Mothers who don’t have access to leave face financial strain and are more likely to leave the workforce (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). This negatively affects their career trajectories and lifetime earnings. Additionally, infants miss out on crucial bonding time and early developmental support, potentially impacting their health and well-being (Pew Research Center, 2023). Studies have found evidence of positive outcomes for dads taking parental leave including increased involvement in childcare (Pleck, 2010), stronger bonds with children (Lamb, 2010), and improved maternal health (Chatterji & Markowitz, 2008).
The entire family system is impacted by parental leave policies, and those impacts extend to employers. The return on investment of every dollar invested in paid leave policies is estimated to have a return of $2.57, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. Take Google for example, which found that extending their paid leave from 12 to 18 weeks eliminated gender differences in employee attrition rates. Before the shift, women were leaving their jobs at twice the rate of men. Google’s senior VP of people operations, Laszlo Bock, commented:
“The attrition rate for women after childbirth was twice our average attrition rate . . . After making the change in leave, the difference in attrition rates vanished. And moms told us that they were often using the extra two months to transition slowly back to work, making them more effective and happier when the leave ended. When we eventually did the math, it turned out this program cost nothing. The cost of having a mom out of the office for an extra couple of months was more than offset by the value of retaining her expertise and avoiding the cost of finding and training a new hire.”
Despite extensive evidence of the benefits for families and employers, the United States still doesn’t have federally guaranteed parental leave. Although there are state-level benefits and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 offers 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for eligible employees with newborns or newly adopted children, many workers don't qualify due to employer size or work history requirements. Even if parents do have access to leave, many caregivers don’t feel like they can take full advantage of it due to societal norms and fear of negative career repercussions (Nepomnyaschy & Waldfogel, 2007).
Our study of over 1,000 parents is helping to tease apart the nuance in the story of paid leave. We found that parents—mostly mothers—who received more than 12 weeks of paid leave were 80% less likely to leave their jobs. Interviews with mothers provided more context to this finding. For example, one mother who returned to work shared:
“We were also very lucky to know that I was going to be going into six months of paid leave, three [months] at 100% pay, and then the next three, I think it was 60 or 70% through the state, because we live in a state that offers paid leave. And so that was hugely critical for us (both working).”
Perinatal mental health is also a factor we need to consider. Among caregivers who experienced a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder (PMAD) and ultimately left their jobs, 87.5% reported that they had wanted longer paid leave. As one mother shared:
“I needed a longer leave… I needed to protect my mental health… I was too anxious to leave my child.”
Families work as systems in that support for one member extends benefits to everyone in the family. When dads have access to leave, it can support their partner’s return to work. A mother shared:
“We also knew that my husband would be able to take 12 weeks at some point in our daughter's first year of life. Again, through the state, his employer didn't offer anything additional, but they were very supportive of him taking that leave. So it all just really worked out. And honestly, six months was amazing. Eight months was bliss. The fact that I had that amount of time with her. And then when I went back to work my husband was off-boarding into his paid leave. And so through the first year, we either had myself or my mother-in-law or my husband watching our daughter full-time.”
Those whose partners didn’t or couldn’t take leave struggled:
“I just remember my husband, I think, took three weeks off when our daughter was born. I remember when he went back to work, and we both work at home. I'm here three weeks postpartum, trying to figure everything out, and he's back at work.”
Beyond access to paid leave, a supportive work environment also comes into play. Another mother in our study commented:
“My boss was super supportive and checked in on me frequently. I ended up being able to go back to work at 10 months postpartum and felt good about my decision.”
Flexible work-from-home arrangements and options to gradually transition back to work can also ensure that caregivers feel supported. Unfortunately, not all caregivers had such a positive experience. Many felt like their colleagues or manager resented them for taking leave or saw it as a “vacation”. This underscores the importance of managers being trained to understand how to support parent employees.
Paid leave is not just a benefit for individuals—it’s a lifeline for families as interconnected systems. Supporting one caregiver strengthens the entire family, fostering better mental health, stronger bonds, and improved outcomes for children. All caregivers, regardless of their employer, deserve access to paid leave, yet too many are left without because of the misconception that it’s too costly to provide. In reality, the benefits of paid leave extend far beyond families, positively impacting employers and the broader economy. It’s time to prioritize paid leave as a societal benefit, ensuring it’s accessible to everyone through thoughtful, comprehensive policy.
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