More than a third of employers do not offer early parenthood support and may be vulnerable to losing staff to more family friendly organisations, according to new research.
The research, by digital health and wellbeing platform Peppy, found 63 per cent of employers did offer support to new parents, but a sizeable minority did not.
The survey found that, post Covid, there is now greater employer awareness of the importance of family life and its influence on staff choices. A total of 83 per cent of employers surveyed said they have concerns they could lose their best talent if they do not provide early parenthood support.
Peppy says that early parenthood support is the name given to the support offered to new parents following the birth or adoption of a child, and includes but is not limited to, support with infant development, sleep and feeding, perinatal health, relationships, mental health, childcare, and return to work.
The research found that from an employee retention point of view, employers believe the most important reason to offer early parenthood support is to appear as a caring employer (45 per cent).
This was followed by wanting to be a more attractive employer against competitors (41 per cent) and because it is important that staff can support their family and friends outside of the workplace (34 per cent).
Additional reasons were to mitigate the risk of the wider workforce being impacted by a colleague having time off or not being productive (31 per cent) and to be able to actively attract specific demographics of staff, for example by gender or age (19 per cent).
Unfortunately, not all business leaders recognise the positive difference that such support can make to recruitment and retention. Just 55 per cent of HR decision-makers think that their senior leadership teams recognise that offering support for early parenthood has a positive impact on recruitment and retention, as well as addressing issues such as productivity, efficiency, and morale.
Peppy CEO Dr Mridula Pore says: “When employees become parents, their lives are happily turned upside down and they tend to re-evaluate what is and what is not important – often putting the new child at the centre of everything. If an employer is unsupportive or disinterested, employees may start to look elsewhere for an organisation that more visibly puts family first.”
Pore adds: “It is true that not every employee will need or want to lean on workplace support, but knowing it’s there gives great peace of mind. It also sends out a very clear message that the organisation understands that the individual is more than just an employee, they also have an important family life and responsibilities beyond the workplace.”
Peppy suggests that offering workplace early parenthood support is best delivered by experts with the option of one-to-one support. Pore adds: “Offering this type of support is not entirely altruistic. Helping staff at one of their most life-changing moments means employees are more likely to be engaged and productive in the short term and remain loyal to the employer who also supported them throughout those sleepless nights!”
