Earlier this summer, a member of the Kayo private equity community brought to our attention that many firms today still do not have clear parental leave policies in place. Many women in our community are the first person at their firm to become pregnant or the first person to adopt, and often are asked to create a policy themselves.

“So much of maternity leave policy is emerging and there are not institutionalized expectations… I negotiated my leave policy with my firm based on a mere 12 data points gleaned from a fellow female investor’s friends. This could be a great opportunity for Kayo to poll its attendees and publish findings that would be incredibly helpful as we are trying to increase the number of women in the field and level set expectations.” – Partner, Private Equity Firm

We frequently hear stories at our events about how mothers-to-be in a male-dominated work environment experience anxiety. Policies about maternity leave may not be clear, or women may be hesitant to ask for fear of being stigmatized or judged as less committed. Even when policies are clear, best practices on how to navigate maternity leave and the transition back to work are murky and often untested – particularly when women have few female colleagues or friends in their industry to turn to.

Although birth mothers may struggle with family leave policies due to the physical toll of childbirth, they are not alone.

Whether you are pregnant or adopting, the primary caregiver, a dual or secondary caregiver, a mother or a father, family leave policies matter. In response to our community, we polled our audience of professional women about their parental leave policies, and compiled a report summarizing the responses.

Here are a few take-aways from the report:

• 89% of participants’ firms offered paid maternity leave
• 12 weeks of paid maternity leave is most common
• 11% of participants negotiated with their firms for better terms
• 78% of participants’ firms offered paid leave for partners, spouses or other caregivers

We hope this report will help both mothers, fathers and the firms who employ them to better communicate about family leave policies. Together, with more transparency, we can reduce the stress for parents and help firms retain and attract the best talent out there, including moms.

A special thank you to everyone who participated in this survey.

Fill out the form below to download the full report.

 

VIEW THE 2019 KAYO FAMILY LEAVE SURVEY REPORT