Dive Brief:
- Globally, nearly a quarter of fathers leave their jobs — either voluntarily or involuntarily — six months after parental leave ends, compared to 30% of mothers, according to an analysis published Friday by Lauren Thomas, an economist at payroll and HR platform Deel.
- In the U.S., however, the numbers are higher; roughly a third of parents are no longer in their positions six months after their leave ends. That translates to 34% of fathers and 33% of mothers, breaking a largely global pattern of mothers being more likely to leave.
- Employee retention, overall, continues to be a concern for employers, especially when it comes to parents, studies show.
Dive Insight:
White-collar professional fathers in the U.S. take more leave than fathers in the 12 other countries studied, Deel found. U.S. dads take a median of 5.6 weeks, which is more than fathers in France, Italy or the U.K., where paid paternity leave is guaranteed by law.
While fathers across the globe take less time than mothers, in the U.S., they took just under four weeks less, the study of nearly 5,000 workers showed. That means “white-collar fathers have filled in some of the gap” in the U.S., where mothers take less leave than in the other countries studied, Thomas found.
Part of the key to retaining parents can be in schedule flexibility, reports have shown. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Administrative Sciences earlier this year, for example, identified a flexible schedule as the most important workplace policy in determining whether mothers will be employed full-time after the birth or adoption of a child.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of Generation X workers spend the equivalent of two full workdays each week on caregiving responsibilities, according to a July report from resume consulting firm Zety. More than half said they felt stressed and burned out from their caregiving responsibilities, but 3 in 10 said they received little or no support from their employer, a career expert said.