Without the presence of a nation-wide parental leave program, the responsibility to design, provide, and support this essential benefit falls to individual companies. This can be a burden to smaller, newer companies, and it can be hard to take the first step. While many states have established family and personal leave policies that help immensely, we found little policy standardization across companies both inside and outside our industry. An added challenge is the important distinction between maternal leave and parental leave: how can you establish a program and foster a culture that encourages men and women alike to take leave, dismantles maternal biases in the workplace, and challenges assumptions that one parent will assume most of the childcare responsibilities? Additionally, lacking a parental leave program can make recruiting diverse candidates difficult, or decrease retention of employees.

Scout, founded in 2016 as a small renewable start-up, did not have a formalized Parental Leave Policy in place. As we began to grow our full-time employees to over 100, our team members began advocating for a comprehensive policy that would support them during this exciting chapter of their lives. As we recruited candidates to rapidly scale the company in 2022, a key question from prospective candidates was whether Scout could offer a paid family leave policy. When they learned we didn’t have one, some eliminated Scout as a potential employer.

With input from employees and the VP of People + Culture, we drafted a comprehensive paid family leave program that is inclusive to both primary and supporting parents that covers biological, adopted, and legal guardianship relationships. It creates a standard that can be applied across the company, while still maintaining flexibility to accommodate unique needs. The policy also addresses the transition into the leave as well as the transition back; for example, hand-off templates, pumping rooms, and mentorship or support groups. The approval process included several proposals and revisions between People + Culture and our CEO and CFO leaders to strike a balance between supporting employees and limiting impact on business functions.

After launching the program three months ago, we have several prospective parents who will be utilizing the policy in 2023/2024. We’ve also added the policy to our recruiting resources to share with prospective candidates. Scout will continue monitoring the utilization of the policy and adjust as needed to support our employees.