The long game: Why 3 Austin tech companies see parental leave as a talent investment

by Colin Morris
March 24, 2016

Tech companies have stepped up to lead a national shift toward policies that help employees balance work with the lives they lead outside the office.

One of the most effective ways to support that balance is the growing trend of longer parental leave policies, allowing workers to focus on family first when welcoming a new addition. It’s an important and often difficult business decision, especially for startups with small staffs that struggle to cover absences.

Here are three policies at Austin tech companies, and the stories of how they came to be.

 

 

Interview with Lizette Fleher, Director of Talent Acquisition

Policy highlights

  • 12 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers who have been here for less than one year
  • 16 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers who have been here for a year or longer
  • 4 weeks of paid leave for secondary caregivers
  • Primary have a reduced work schedule for their first 4 weeks of work after their leave

How did you develop your policy?

Our employees are beginning to start families, so we wanted to make sure we have a policy that is really family friendly and supports balancing a career with having a family. We looked at the policies of companies we admire, did some benchmarking and explored what other local tech companies offer.

How is tech leading the national trend in better benefits for healthy work-life-family balance?

Technology companies know there is a life outside the walls of their businesses, and it benefits both the employee and the business long term to provide perks, benefits and services that help keep employees healthy and happy.

What advice would you give to startups forming their own policies?

Have a good pulse on what the needs of your employees are, perhaps through a survey or at an all-hands meeting where people can voice what benefits and perks are most meaningful to them.

 

 

 

Interview with Heather Miller, Director of Marketing

Policy highlights

Parental Leave (Paid)

All eligible employees are allowed parental leave in the 12-month period immediately following the birth or placement of a child, as follows:

  1. 12 weeks for the Primary Caregiver
  2. 2 weeks where the Primary Caregiver has a caesarian section
  3. 4 weeks for any Other Parent

Pre-arrival leave (Paid)

All eligible employees are allowed pre-arrival leave to attend to basic pregnancy-related matters in the 10-months immediately preceding the birth or placement of a child, as follows:

  1. Two weeks for Primary Caregivers
  2. One week for Other Parents

Flex-Time

After using up their parental leave, employees who are primary caregivers are allowed four more weeks of telecommuting 3.5 days per week, four weeks at 2.5 days per week and four weeks at 1.5 days per week.

Read more about Able Lending's parental leave policy on their blog.

How did you develop your policy?

Able’s cofounders, Evan Baehr and Will Davis (pictured above), set out to create one of the most considerate and flexible family leave policies for Able employees. Both having families of their own, Will and Evan understand the need for work-family-life balance.

Developing our family leave policy was a collaborative process involving our first expecting mother, our general counsel, our co-founders and our entire team. We first researched national statistics on what startups offer, interviewed local HR leads on their startups’ policies, and reviewed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) framework as a guide (even though Able has less than 50 employees, making it exempt from FMLA requirements).

The first draft of our policy was shared with our expecting mother first, and then with the entire company. We solicited feedback so everyone had the opportunity to contribute.

Able is proud to offer employees one of the most generous family leave policies in the nation.

How is tech leading the national trend in better benefits for healthy work-life-family balance?

Technology companies are at the forefront of creating family-forward policies to compete for and retain talent and yield significant profits. Their proven results or “industry movement,” as it’s been called, help other large corporations understand the benefits for employees and the company’s bottom line.

In recent years, Netflix, Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo! and Amazon have all adopted family leave policies that are 100 percent paid, challenging the norm for all U.S. businesses.

The flexible nature of a tech company has inherent, built-in benefits to a flexible family leave policy. For example, the use of technology such as Slack, Zoom, and Dropbox allow parents to work outside of standard office hours without missing out on team communications.

What advice would you give to startups forming their own policies?

A 2015 study conducted by Pew Research Center finds 56 percent of working parents say it’s difficult to balance their job responsibilities with their family responsibilities. Put yourself in the shoes of an expecting mother or father if you don’t have a family. Consult with employees or outside friends with families to help shape your policy.

Flexible family leave helps attract and retain employees. Think of it as an investment in your company.

Include family leave in employees’ total compensation package.

Don’t forget about expecting fathers. Fathers who take paternity leave are more likely to take an active role in child-care tasks and their early interaction with their new child has longer-term benefits for a child’s learning abilities as noted here.

Recommended reading

The Startup Maternity & Paternity Leave Policy Survey, April 2014 was a great source of information/served as a baseline for us at Able.

 

 

 

Interview with Lindsey Bogard, Recruiting Leader at Accruent

Policy highlights

All full-time, regular employees are eligible for parental leave and the benefit is inclusive of birth and adoption events.

Expectant Mother

  • FMLA job protected leave for 12 weeks after life event
  • Short Term Disability payments from Cigna for 6–8 weeks (60% earnings)
  • Accruent Parental Leave (1 month income)

Expectant Father

  • FMLA job protected leave for 12 weeks after life event
  • Accruent Parental Leave (2 weeks parental leave)

How did you develop your policy?

We considered anonymous feedback from our employees about how our benefits could be improved. We also conducted research and invested in tools that allow us to benchmark the kinds of benefits other tech companies offer in Austin so that we remain competitive.

How is tech leading the national trend in better benefits for healthy work-life-family balance?

As a tech company, our workforce is all over the globe. Our customers are, too, and we need to be available during their business hours, which are often around the clock. In order for our teams to stay energized, have time for their personal lives and still delight our customers, we need to have more flexibility than the traditional workplace.

That requires flexible hours and the ability to work from places other than the office, as well as bringing in things traditionally done outside the office into the workplace, such as volunteering and social opportunities, family events, and health/wellness options, among others.

Our new office space will incorporate many of these things to make it easier for employees to find the best integration of their work into their day-to-day/family lives.

Advice for startups forming their own policies

Make sure you are looking at your current workforce and listening to their needs. As you plan out your policies with your providers, make sure you have room to change and adjust in the coming years as your workforce changes, so you are always meeting their needs and staying competitive in the process.

Other perks

  • Designated Mother-Friendly Worksite. In our offices, we have private areas for mothers who are nursing with designated areas to store breast milk during the work day.

  • We have an open PTO policy that encourages employees to take off the time they need without feeling pressured to stay within a certain number of PTO days each year. Many employees also take advantage of the flexibility to work from home.

  • Family-friendly, company-wide events include trick-or-treating in the office and our annual company picnic.

 

Jobs from companies in this blog

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