American Express (AmEx) made national headlines last month when it announced it would soon offer employees 20 weeks of paid leave for the birth, surrogacy, adoption, or legal guardianship of a new child.
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The offering is an investment in its workforce, the company says. Workers are happier and healthier when they take leave, AmEx has found, and they stay at companies when they feel their families are supported. So it naturally follows that employers would want workers to take available leave. But employees can sometimes be reluctant to do so, even if the leave is paid, fearing that they’ll derail their careers.
So how do you get employees to take the leave? The answer to that question is likely to differ from employer to employer, says Tammy Yee, the company’s vice president of U.S. benefits, but at AmEx, the solution was creating a “culture of health.”
A National Trend
Other companies have announced similar parental leave programs in recent years. Last year, for example, Ikea announced that it would begin offering 16 weeks of paid leave, while Etsy announced a 6-month allowance, which can be used during the 2 years following a birth or adoption. (According to a recent study, however, the nation’s largest employers aren’t the ones leading the way. See Many Large Employers Don’t Offer Paid Parental Leave, Report Finds.)
AmEx’s new program took effect January 1 and applies to both male and female employees, the company said in a press release. Birth mothers are eligible for up to 8 additional paid weeks, if medically necessary.
Longer parental leave has positive effects on workers’ mental and physical health and female employees’ career advancement, Yee told BLR®. “For us, expanding parental leave is simply about continuing the investments we have already made in the overall well-being of our employees and their families,” she said.
The move also was an attempt to ensure that the needs of LGBTQ families were met. “This policy is more reflective of the needs of our diverse employee base and the employees we want to attract,” Yee said.
Getting Employees to Take Leave
AmEx acknowledged, however, that offering leave is one thing; getting employees to take advantage of it is another.
In late 2015, The New York Times looked at the issue and found that policies aren’t enough. Leadership must set an example, experts said, citing Yahoo! as a cautionary tale. The company had just announced a new parental leave program when CEO Marisa Mayer made another announcement: she was pregnant but planned to take “limited time away” from the office. Such contradictory signals can undermine employers’ efforts, they said.
AmEx says that its culture of health is working: most eligible employees took the full leave available under its previous program, according to Yee. It showed support for workers’ families with flexible work arrangements, a backup child care program, and an annual award that recognizes employees who successfully “make their career and family fit into their lives in extraordinary ways.”
But to ensure that workers use the new leave program and continue to feel supported, the company has adopted some additional programs. It now educates employees about the leave policy and takes steps to assuage concerns that leave will derail employees’ careers.
AmEx also increased infertility, surrogacy, and adoption coverage in its health plan and provides a “parent concierge service” that provides one-on-one support. Finally, new parents have access to lactation consultants and AmEx will now pay to ship breast milk home when employees are traveling for work.
Yee says the company also has successfully obtained leadership buy-in. “In fact, our executives actively encourage employees to take advantage of their full leave and the multitude of benefits available to them,” she said. And senior leaders who have children are encouraged to share candid advice about balancing a career with parenthood, she added. “This type of workplace ethos reinforces to our employees that they we don’t just have their backs, but their families’ as well.”
 Kate McGovern Tornone is an editor at BLR. She has almost 10 years’ experience covering a variety of employment law topics and currently writes for HR Daily Advisor and HR.BLR.com. Before coming to BLR, she served as editor of Thompson Information Services’ ADA and FLSA publications, co-authored the Guide to the ADA Amendments Act, and published several special reports. She graduated from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., with a B.A. in media studies. |