As someone who wants a family after college, the thought of taking off work for 12 weeks with no pay terrifies me. I have lived in the United States my whole life, where there is no federal law requiring paid parental leave. That said, because most businesses here have an unpaid program for childbirth, I have seen families around me negatively impacted because of their needs being ignored. These effects include increased stress levels, postpartum issues, financial instability, and more. With that said, I wanted to explore how mandating paid parental leave could alter the experiences of those wanting to expand their family.
Maternity leave is common within the United States, but it is typically unpaid, leaving the new mother with more problems to face, on top of learning how to care for her newborn child. Inadequate maternity leave can lead not only to anxiety and depression, but also relationship issues and the inability to return to work. This means that individuals without proper employee benefits are left to fend for themselves physically, emotionally, and financially when they are forced into financial insecurity after childbirth. Ultimately, this negatively impacts the new family as well as the companies they work for.
Many studies have been done to examine the benefits of paid parental leave. After compiling the results, I found that paid leave for childbirth results in not only personal gain but can also manifest in advantages for the companies themselves. Individuals in modern society base their consumption of products and services according to businesses’ reputations, so it is important for these companies to uphold an influence of equality. Extended paid leave shows a company to be supportive of its employees and their family members, to be embracing of a family-friendly culture, and to have a positive reputation which will in turn contribute to a boost in recruitment. This exemplifies how paid parental leave can also benefit the employer in relation to new employees and how their influence is spread across the market. With this said, the same study found that, 83% of millennials said they would be more likely to join a company that offers paid parental leave benefits. These findings further explain how recruitment and employment processes can be altered by the benefits they offer to their employees. This is because people are more inclined to work for a company who has their best interest at heart, while also providing the most support emotionally and financially.
To further this, if you have any knowledge of childbirth, then you are probably aware of the extensive costs that individuals must endure during pregnancy and even postpartum. Giving birth costs $18,865 on average, including pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health System Tracker. Having knowledge of healthcare, we know that health insurance may cover part of this cost, but only if the individual has already paid for it, and the hospital accepts the plan they chose. This leaves those without health insurance marginalized and cornered into unhealthy ways to afford to bring their child into this world.
On top of this, those who have unpaid parental leave miss out on thousands of dollars worth of their salary, that was originally offered to them when accepting the job. When asked why a new mother returned to work soon after giving birth, she said, “I did end up returning to work sooner than planned because of the lost wages,” she added. “I lost about $7,000 in income due to unpaid leave with my first son.” The pay that this lady lost ultimately forced her back into work after just a few weeks, simply to keep her family’s heads above water financially. This is just one example of women being forced back into the workplace to afford the health care they needed, and these situations only worsen if the mother is single, a member of the LGBTQ community, or especially a woman of color.
Now understanding how new parents, especially mothers, are affected by unpaid leave, it is important to recognize how a federal law mandating paid parental leave will benefit United States’ companies, while also offering parents support to raise the next generation happily and healthily.
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