The existing policy for parents going on leave following the birth or adoption of a child was primarily focused on the administrative steps they needed to follow during the leave process.

The process involved requesting time off, communicating with stakeholders, receiving a percentage of their salary for a number of weeks, and returning to work afterward.

I was selected to support the first birthing parent going on leave, and the existing policy did not reflect current trends in the industry and recent updates to the Employment Standards Act (ESA).

Existing studies and anecdotes also supported the claim that going on maternity leave negatively impacts women’s careers and so this was an opportunity to revisit our approach. I decided to look into the opportunities for improving the policy, the process, and the benefits offered.

I searched for companies in Canada reputed to have strong parental benefits, including those featured in ‘Canada’s Top 100 family-friendly Employers’ and ‘Canada’s Top 100 Companies’, focusing on organizations in Technology and Consulting. I then compiled data showing benefits offered by Technology Companies and Startups in Toronto - the data was sourced from HR slack group chats in Toronto and N.America, such as ‘The People People Group’ and ‘Resources for Humans’ by Lattice,’ Glassdoor reviews, and conversations with senior HR executives. I did not filter for years of operations, annual revenue or funding status (i.e. VC funded or bootstrapped) because while these factors can impact the budget, these companies were still our competitors regarding talent, and I wanted to get a broad view of the landscape. I also looked at US company offerings because there are no federally funded paid benefits in the US that are directly comparable to employment insurance in Canada, so some US companies tend to offer very generous plans and I wanted to see the magnitude of what existed. In addition I read startup-specific resources created and shared by members of the Toronto technology community, specifically ‘The Expecting Playbook’ and ‘The Parenting Playbook.’

I reviewed competitors' leave offerings for birthing and non-birthing parents and came across information about leave eligibility criteria, benefits such as “baby dollars”, and other opportunities to support parents throughout the process.

Another key observation was that secondary parents, often men, were typically offered less time off than birthing parents so increasing this offering could help correct gender imbalances often tied to this kind of leave.

I explored the ‘top up’ model by looking into Government-sponsored employment insurance (E.I.) as a means of cost savings for the organization. I did preliminary financial modelling of potential costs if multiple employees were to go on leave using the existing model vs. a future model that offered employees more time off and a higher percentage of their salaries in conjunction with E.I ($562 per week at the time). This was necessary to balance the needs of employees who want to maximize their earnings and days off and that of the organization wanting to keep leave-related costs down.

I also worked with stakeholders (primarily Managers, Finance, and Operations) to define new roles to ensure smooth coordination behind the scenes and a seamless experience for employees on leave.

Based on this analysis, I proposed the following:

Incorporating E.I in order to provide primary parents with 15% more of their salary during their leave and secondary parents with 5 additional weeks of leave (more than double the previous offering).

Sharing a condensed version of the benefits offering + FAQs for employees and their partners to review to enable them to make the best leave decision.

New communication and feedback rituals between stakeholders at different stages in the process, i.e. before, during, and after the leave. We implemented ‘Keeping In Touch’ days to encourage communication between managers and reports.

Introducing a phased return to work option allows for an easier transition back to work and enables retention.

The policy was rolled out as part of a series of company-wide improvements and had been in effect for 18 months at the time of publishing this page. Throughout this period, I personally supported over 7 employees who went on leave and have received positive feedback about the level of support they received along the way. The program was also recognized by the ‘Top Small and Medium Employers’ publication in Canada.