How Even the Smallest Company Can Offer Great Parental Leave

More companies are offering new parents paid time off. With smart planning, a parental leave policy won’t break the bank.

- Saki Knafo

DAVID MINTON, the co-founder of DesignHammer, a 10-person, Durham, North Carolina, web-design company with nearly $1 million in sales, figured that if he could mostly stay home for two weeks after the birth of his second child without the company falling apart, the other new dads a the office could too. Today, he offers two weeks paid leave for new fathers and eight weeks for moms. He thinks his decision will help the company bottom line by retaining staff. “The employees that we have have a whole lot of opportunities,” he says. “How much you pay them isn’t 100 percent of the equation of whether they want to stick in the position.” More companies are coming to the same conclusion. In 2015, 21 percent of employers surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management offered paid maternity leave, and 17 percent offered paid paternity leave, up from 12 percent for both in 2014. Offering paid parental leave can pay dividends: A 2011 report by the U.S. Census Bureau found that women who got paid leave were more likely to return to work within five months than those who didn’t receive or use the benefit. These founders can show you how to create a parental leave policy that works for you and your employees.

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