As pandemic restrictions ease at work, employers are also scaling back on a vital workplace benefit: paid family leave. In 2020 and during the years since, many employers expanded paid maternity and paternity leave benefits for working parents and caregivers. Now, a new survey shows these positive changes are being slowly rolled back, and that’s bad news for U.S. families.
How many employers offer paid family leave?
A new survey by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows only 35% of employers offer paid maternity leave beyond what’s required by law in 2022, a marked decrease from 53% in 2020. Additionally, only 27% of employers now offer paid paternity leave, which is down from 44% in 2020.
The pandemic also prompted more companies to offer paid leave for adoption and foster care. In 2020, 36% of employers surveyed offered paid adoption leave and 28% offered paid foster child leave. In 2022, those numbers have dropped to 28% and 22%, respectively.
In a press release, SHRM explains that “leave for new parents (beyond what is required by law) returned to pre-pandemic levels of prevalence after all the different types of leave reached their highest prevalence in 2020.” They add, “Now that businesses have regained a more normal semblance of operations, so too have businesses ranked benefits in a more typical order of importance.”
Parents speak out about the need for paid leave
Employers may be ready to downshift when it comes to offering paid family leave, but parents and caregivers don’t feel the same way. An April 2021 poll of more than 21,000 Americans found that two-thirds think companies should offer both paid maternity and paternity leave. Paid leave’s popularity even goes beyond the bounds of political affiliation, which is a big deal in a country as polarized as the U.S. A CNBC poll shows that 73% of Republicans, 83% of independents and 94% of Democrats support paid family leave policies.
On social media, the news that fewer companies are offering paid parent leave drove people to speak out.
“We’re practically the only developed country in the world that has normalized little or no support for working parents and then we wonder why the labor force is shrinking,” one person writes on Twitter. “Paid family leave for all!”
“A federal safety net is needed for new parents,” another person adds. “Spending time with your newborn shouldn’t be up for grabs depending on your employer.”
On LinkedIn, working parents implored businesses to do whatever they can to preserve paid leave policies, including cutting other, less essential costs.
“Instead of forcing your staff back in the office, off load your expensive real estate and opt for something smaller that suits only the staff that actually wants to be in the office,” writes Liane Paonessa, a PR and marketing professional. “Heck, find a more affordable city for your headquarters! Ditch the gourmet cuisine in the cafeteria, cancel the fancy perks and subscriptions. Keep the parental leave. Your employees need it and you need them to have it or you’ll lose them.”
The benefits of paid family leave
The complex patchwork of paid family leave policies in the U.S. means that even when a sizable number of companies offer the benefit, not everyone has the opportunity to take advantage of it. In 2020, when paid leave was more frequently available, a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed only 20% of workers had access to it. According to the same report, low-wage workers making $14 per hour or less were the least likely to have access to family leave benefits. Additionally, Black and Hispanic workers were less likely than white, non-Hispanic workers to have paid family leave.
The Time’s Up Foundation reports that creating a national paid family leave policy could add $28.5 billion to the U.S. economy annually. Additionally, paid family leave has been linked to:
- Increased rates of breastfeeding.
- A lower incidence of postpartum depression.
- Greater father involvement with kids.
The Center for American Progress also cites paid family leave as one of many solutions to address racial disparities in maternal health and infant mortality.
Expanded access to paid leave over the past two years represented a meaningful step forward for many American employees, and cutting those policies costs workers and families in so many different ways. We may be in a different stage of the pandemic, but families haven’t stopped needing flexible, supportive polices—like paid leave—that allow them to thrive.