#ShowUsYourLeave

On episode 27 of the Nice Podcast, I interviewed Jane Allen from the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. We got to talking a little about maternity and paternity leave. According to Zippia, Federal law in the US only requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave. 40% of employers offer paid maternity leave in some form. 70% of women take some form of maternity leave. The average maternity leave in the US is 10 weeks, paid or unpaid.

#ShowUsYourLeave Is Taking Over LinkedIn Feeds

Reading more about this led me to Erin Spencer Sairam’s recent Forbes article entitled #ShowUsYourLeave Is Taking Over LinkedIn Feeds. Sairam learned of this new trend from theSkimm, a morning newsletter that has millions of subscribers. You could say this became a trend because of their LinkedIn post.

Tag a company or brand whose paid family leave policy you want to see.👇 And check back on our feed, where we’re shouting out some of the employers who stepped up. PS: Ours is there too. 👀

As someone who has a vested interest in helping leaders of fast-growing technology companies retain talent and build strong cultures, this story piqued my interest.

What I discovered is a wonderful example of how companies can share their paid leave policies. Sairam wrote, “A study funded by March of Dimes found that states with implemented paid leave policies saw a 20% reduction in the number of women leaving their jobs in the first year after welcoming a child, and up to a 50% reduction after five years. Notably, when Google updated its paid leave policy to 18 weeks from 12 in 2017, the company’s retention rate of young mothers jumped 50%.”

We already know how much it can cost to replace an employee. I encourage you to create your own #showusyourleave graphic to share how wonderfully you treat your people.