Improving Staff Retention and Diversity through the Creation of a Staff Parental Leave Policy Staff Council Carnegie Mellon University 2017 1 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 INTRODUCTION 5 REVIEW OF CURRENT FACULTY AND STAFF POLICIES 7 STAFF VERSUS FACULTY 7 DISABILITY LEAVE OF ABSENCE 8 ADOPTION AND SURROGACY 8 SELECT STAFF EXPERIENCES WITH THE EXISTING BENEFIT 8 BENCHMARKING 10 BENEFITS TO THE INSTITUTION 10 BUSINESS CASE 10 UNIVERSITY GROWTH AND REPUTATION 11 THE NEED FOR A UNIFORM POLICY 11 STAFF MORALE 11 CHILD AND PARENT BENEFITS 12 PROPOSED STAFF PARENTAL LEAVE POLICY 13 FUNDING 14 HOW MUCH WOULD THE POLICY COST? 14 CONCLUSION 15 APPENDIX A: BENCHMARKING 16 GOOGLE 17 POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF IMPLEMENTATION 17 FAMILY FRIENDLY POLICIES 18 PNC BANK 18 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 18 COCA COLA 18 JOHNSON & JOHNSON 18 DELOITTE 18 ACCENTURE 18 POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF IMPLEMENTATION 19 SALESFORCE 19 APPENDIX B: COMMITTEE RESEARCH AND ACTIONS 20 QUESTIONNAIRE 20 FORUM 20 PARENTAL LEAVE FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS 21 APPENDIX C: CURRENT MATERNITY LEAVE BENEFIT 22 2 APPENDIX D: PARENTAL LEAVE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS 23 HIGHLIGHTS FROM PARENTAL LEAVE QUESTIONNAIRE 23 THEMES IDENTIFIED BY THE COMMITTEE: 23 SPECIFIC COMMENTS (FROM QUESTION 15 BELOW): 23 PARENTAL LEAVE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS 25 STAFF EXPERIENCES 36 APPENDIX E: DEPENDENTS ADDED TO A CMU HEALTH PLAN BY BIRTH YEAR 103 3 Executive Summary In recent years, employers who are leaders in their respective fields have recognized the need to establish parental leave policies and provide adoption benefits to their employees. These policies promote equity, diversity, and help balance the demands between work and family. Staff Council proposes the implementation of a parental leave policy to ensure the consistent and fair treatment of all staff adding a child to their family while employed at Carnegie Mellon University. The proposed policy aims to keep CMU competitive in its quest to recruit and retain quality staff. By prioritizing parental leave, CMU will maintain its reputation as a leader in the Pittsburgh area and among peer institutions for progressive policies. Carnegie Mellon University has continually boasted its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive campus. Research has shown that women prioritize work-life balance over career advancement opportunities, especially for mid-career women in their prime family-raising years. Women typically value benefits such as paid time off, flexible work arrangements, and childcare support more than men. Since women generally give more weight to work-life balance design elements when evaluating potential employers, it makes sense that they would work for companies that value this supportive environment.1 Furthermore, a comprehensive parental leave policy benefits anyone seeking to be a parent regardless of gender and family structure. CMU’s current policy diminishes its ability to retain a diverse workforce. We believe that the policy suggested below embodies the spirit of “One CMU” that is part of the university’s Strategic Plan 2025, specifically addressed under “Goals for the Individual Experience,” under “Personal Development, including Physical and Emotional Health and Well-Being,” under “Holistic Health and Wellness.” The chairman of the Board of Trustees, James Rohr, recently expressed his continued commitment to the spirit of "One CMU" with a special emphasis on supporting the university’s faculty, students and staff2. The former CMU president, Subra Suresh, believed the success of this program could only be achieved if we take care of both personal and community dimensions of the CMU experience.3 For staff growing their families, addressing the effect of this transition on their lives is thus vital to fulfilling the spirit of “One CMU.” In addition, we believe the recommendations below will help accomplish two of the goals set for the Carnegie Mellon community in the University Strategic Plan. Specifically, it would fall under the first two goals: 1) Create a diverse and inclusive community and 2) Recruit and retain world-class students, faculty, and staff.4 We propose the following staff parental leave policy, which is more equitable with the parental leave policy for faculty 1 Kelly Services, 2014. “Women in STEM. How and why an inclusive strategy is critical to closing the STEM gap.” http://www.kellyservices.com/uploadedFiles/3- Kelly_Global_Services/Content/KGWI_Women%20in%20STEM_final.pdf 2 http://www.cmu.edu/leadership/president-suresh/campus-comms/2017/2017-06-01R.html 3 Suresh, Subra. “Delivering on the CMU Experience”. March, 2017. http://cms- staging.andrew.cmu.edu/leadership-2/president-suresh/campus-comms/2017/2017-03-01.html. 4 http://www.cmu.edu/strategic-plan/university-community/ 4 • A staff member who becomes a parent of a child school age or younger through adoption or surrogacy, who is the primary caregiver, is entitled to the same amount of paid time off as an employee who becomes a parent through childbirth. • The primary caregiver of an adopted or newborn child is provided 12 weeks fully paid leave. A primary caregiver refers to an eligible employee that becomes a parent through childbirth or adoption of a school age child or younger. • The secondary caregiver is provided 6 weeks fully paid leave. A secondary caregiver refers to an eligible employee and the parent of the newborn or recently adopted child and who is not the primary caregiver. • Use of paid time off is not required to receive the benefit. • Primary and secondary caregivers can use their paid leave time intermittently within a 12-month period. Additionally, the university could consider providing an adoption assistance benefit to employees that adopt and formalizing a flexible or reduced return-to-work schedule for new parents. Providing parents with support, flexibility, and time to bond with their child(ren) and adjust to their new family situation while balancing their professional obligations is the ultimate goal of a parental leave policy. Introduction Starting or adding to a family should be cause for joy and celebration. Yet, for many parents, the birth or adoption of a child means stretched finances and concern for care of their child when they must return to work. The fundamental shifts in family and work patterns over the past several decades have brought the demand for time off to address family needs to the national spotlight. As a result of shifting gender roles, diverse family structures, and economic need, the concept of a “traditional family” (two parents, one employed) has been replaced by dual-earning couples and single parent households. The workforce in America has changed. Women’s wages are critical to a family’s financial security. “Women are now the primary or co-breadwinners in more than six out of 10 households, and nearly 40 percent are the main or sole breadwinner.”5 There is much progress to be made at a national level to support the new reality of the American workforce, as the United States is one of very few countries that does not guarantee any paid leave. During President Obama's second term as President, he proposed legislation that would provide federal employees with six weeks of paid administrative leave for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child. When he announced his proposal during a State of the Union address, he said, “It’s time we stop treating childcare as a side issue or a women’s issue." In fact, a parental leave policy should be flexible, gender-neutral, and counteract unconscious bias. Parents should feel supported, regardless of their gender, to build successful careers and nurture their families. 5 National Partnership for Women & Families, “Expecting Better: A State-by-State Analysis of Laws that Help New Parents.” Second Edition, May 2012. http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work- family/expecting-better.pdf 5 The United States is just one of three out of 185 countries that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave.6 Fortunately, many U.S. companies and universities have acknowledged that supporting employees as they navigate issues related to parenting and growing their families is critical for recruitment, retention, and productivity. Instead of waiting for a national public policy on parental leave, organizations are recognizing the needs of their workforce and are creating generous parental leave policies that benefit all parents, regardless of the way they create their family. At a regional level, the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, University of Pittsburgh, and large local employers such as PNC Bank and BNY Mellon have revised their parental leave policies within the last two years. Research has shown that parental leave is important for both caregivers, personally and professionally. Longer paternity leaves and allowing fathers increased time spent caring for their young children are associated with higher cognitive test scores for their children.7 On a professional level, economists have found that paid leave increases the 6 https://thinkprogress.org/u-s-paid-family-leave-versus-the-rest-of-the-world-in-2-disturbing-charts- 365324eeba45 7 United States Department of Labor, DOL Policy Brief: Why Parental Leave for Fathers is So Important for Working Families. June 2015. https://www.dol.gov/asp/policy-development/PaternityBrief.pdf 6 probability that mothers will return to work, work more hours, and eventually earn higher wages.8 The topic of parental leave is not new to CMU. Staff council and other staff members have attempted to bring this important matter to the university’s attention numerous times over the past decade through benefits forums, town halls, and the submission of benchmarking results as recently as 2015. Earlier this year, 1,279 CMU employees, approximately one third of the CMU staff, completed a questionnaire that aimed to gather information about attitudes and awareness around the policies relating to parental leave at CMU. More than half of the respondents were unsatisfied with the current leave benefit. Many respondents commented that they are disappointed by the lack of equity between faculty and staff.