While PTC had a competitive disability program in the U.S. that supported mothers giving birth, our global gender-neutral policies to support fathers and adoptive parents at birth and beyond were lacking.

At PTC, creating a strong work-life balance is essential to ensuring that all our employees’ well-being is being addressed. Our goal was to create equity in the benefits that are offered across all genders and countries while also ensuring parents have more time to care for and bond with their new child.

In 2016, we increased our parental leave policy in the U.S. from 3 weeks to 12 weeks of fully paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child for all parents, regardless of gender. Additionally, parental leave policies were introduced or enhanced in 26 other countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Since then, we’ve continued to implement benefits that support all employees in finding the right work-life balance with their family. Recent additions in the U.S. include:

• On-site wellness rooms with employer provided breast pumps at our headquarters.
• Access to caregiver resources that allow employees to take care of child, parent, pet, or home care easily from anywhere.
• Pet insurance which helps employees support their furry, feathered, and scaled family members, too.

In the three years since rolling out the parental leave benefit, we have seen more employees of all genders supporting and utilizing it. With all these changes, employees have felt more supported by their management and company during huge life events and ongoing work/life balance needs.

Paula Hudson, Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist