Recently the entire world watched as the British Royal Family welcomed its newest member on July 22, 2013. Prince William will be taking two paid weeks off from his position as a helicopter pilot in Royal Air Force for paternity leave.
Offering paternity or maternity leave is not a federal law in the U.S., but all of this media on the Royal family has brought much attention to this topic, according to Jenna Goudrea’s article in Entrepreneur Magazine.
Some believe that offering parental leave is a policy that could attract employees who are or will be building families. One reason that people will hold off from settling down to start a family is because they lack the finances to do so. Parents can not afford to take unpaid time off of work to care for an infant.
Day care, nannies and helpful family members are some potential alternatives, but they can be expensive. Additionally, working parents do not want to jeopardize their child’s development by being an absentee parent.
Ahmad Moore, who owns a business in Newark, N.J, told Goudrea that although business is important, family is bigger priority.
“You can run the business and have everything going well, but if the cost of running that business is the dysfunction of your family and your absence in their life, you have paid too much and made no profit.” Moore stated.
When employees have maternity and paternity leave options available to them they can put financial worries aside, and create a functional work-life balance. Companies that are respectful of their worker’s family situations will be more likely to retain employees with children by reducing their financial anxieties.
If your company is thinking about updating their policies, HR system implementation can help your human resource department save time with this process. Also, HR software organizes employee information and policy distribution so your business can run smoothly.