NO. 1 The Parents Are Not All Right. It's a Problem for Your Talent Pipeline
If the lack of affordable child care options hasn't hit your workers yet, it will. Most families now pay more than double the cost of what the federal government deems “affordable.” Meanwhile, child care workers—who in 2021 earned a median of $27,490 per year—are leaving the fieid in droves. “Child care has been in crisis for decades,” according to Misty Heggeness , associate professor of public policy at the University of Kansas, where she studies the economic impact of child care, “If you want to grow your Company, you need an environment for workers that will reduce drop out and leave. It's costly to train new employees—especially when you have high turnover.”
Since Uncle Sam has proved unwilling to back meaningful child care programs and tax credits, founders must shoulder some of the burden. Sarah Hardy decided to go the distance. In 2014, Hardy became Airbnb's first employee to take parental leave. She went on to join San Francisco-based infant formula Company Bobbie in 2019, which is now a leader in pro-parent benefits, such as four months of paid parental leave. Here, she argues that in lieu of real government action, any Step Companies can take to support employees with families can go a long way toward retaining talent.
I NEVER SAW myself as the poster child for how to do this. But when I was pregnant with my first baby in 2013, there was no parental leave at Airbnb. I had to act, so I started with my own benchmarking study, canvassing policies at other prominent startups. I turned it in to our executive team at Airbnb at the time. I told them, “Im the first new parent at the Company, but I'm not going to be the last.” I was lucky enough with my first child to enjoy my own recommendation, which was four months of paid leave.
I needed every single day of that four months. Despite thinking I was ready, my transition back to work hit like a ton of bricks. So much wasn't planned, from the time it takes to pump to the work trip to Singapore in week two that I couldn't attend. I focused the last four years of my tenure at Airbnb on evolving the culture to grow with the business.
When I came on as a co-founder at Bobbie, what personally drove me was the opportunity to create a workplace that continually looks for new ways to Support parents. Paid leave is part of that, and it's hugely important. But it's a two-year journey from becoming a parent to going back to work. We wanted to think holisticaliy about our policies. One of
