Organizations have been reviewing their parental leave programs in recent years (including paid family leave and paid bonding leave) to comply with changing state and local laws, compete for talent in a competitive job marketplace, and address employee feedback on changing social expectations.

Parental leave benefits

The results of our latest "What's Trending?" Benefits Pulse Survey confirm that respondents are experiencing these same issues. Overall, there was not much activity involving employers changing their parental leave benefits from 2018 to 2019. Similar proportions of employers to those shown in the chart to the right are considering changes in 2020. Both parental leave benefits that are available regardless of employee gender or birth parent status, as well as paid parental leave separate from vacation/sick time are popular for a significant minority among responding organizations.

For those that responded, the number of weeks of available leave increased for both birth and non-birth parents from 2018 to 2019 for the 6-11 weeks and 12+ weeks categories. Yet, the percentage of pay decreased slightly.

Family leave benefits

More employers are considering paid family leave benefits next year that are separate from, and in addition to, PTO or vacation/sick time, and above and beyond the care for newborns/newly adopted children. While only 9% of respondents said they currently offer this benefit, 23% of respondents said they were considering for 2020.

The charts below demonstrate what respondents are currently offering for family leave in terms of number of weeks and percent of pay. Employers that offer these benefits have between 3 and 12+ weeks of leave, as well as many offering 100% of pay. As with parental leave benefits, the number of weeks offered is trending up, while the percentage of pay provided is trending down.

Other benefits

We surveyed companies about a number of other benefits they are currently offering 2019.

There was considerable attention being paid to tuition assistance (with 62% of respondents indicating they currently offer this benefit in in 2019) and telecommuting (43% currently offering). A significant number of employers are considering offering these benefits for 2020. Benefits being considered for new offerings by the most employers in 2020 include student loan assistance, telecommuting, and tuition assistance.

Survey respondents