Is 2022 the year of the parents-first workplace?

This is Working Together, a weekly series on professional women and equity in the workplace. Have ideas about what we should discuss next week? Let me know in the comments using #WorkingTogether or email me at [email protected].?

How much do you know about different companies' paid-leave policies? Thanks to a social media campaign started by theSkimm last week dubbed #ShowUsYourLeave, thousands of companies have now posted everything you need to know about their benefits.??

Here’s what we learned, thanks to the campaign: Bank of America offers 26 weeks of parental leave, 16 of which are fully paid. Lenovo grants $8,000 for legal and medical expenses related to adoption. And Nestle offers financial coverage for infertility medication and treatment.?

Undoubtedly, a company's commitment to parental leave, for all parents, is a strong signal of how much it respects the contributions of working parents. And yet, focusing on paid leave alone ignores a critical fact: Parents have childcare responsibilities well after the baby is born.?

I explored this issue last week with Sarahjane Sacchetti, the CEO of Cleo, a support system for working parents that companies like Pinterest and PepsiCo offer as a benefit to workers. Once a nascent perk offered by very few employers, so-called “family-friendly benefits” are on the rise. Some 77% of employers report that family-friendly benefits will be a key part of their human resources strategy over the next three years, according to a report by Willis Towers Watson.?

The shift toward family-friendly benefits makes sense: Parents comprise 40% of the U.S. workforce and are among the most senior members of the workforce, Sacchetti pointed out.?

Parents’ strength in numbers and seniority — combined with the lack of a social safety net for U.S. parents (i.e., no national paid leave program) and the sheer number of people who are rethinking their careers — has pushed employers to boost benefits for parents and soon-to-be parents. 11% of U.S. employers with 500 employees or more covered egg freezing in 2020, compared with just 5% in 2015, according to a study by Mercer.?

To highlight the growing importance of family-friendly benefits, career search site The Muse is adding a fertility benefits filter that will let candidates determine if employers offer this perk.?

For Sacchetti, making additional headway on family-friendly benefits will hinge on who is making these decisions at companies. Today, many of the people in a position to invest in these benefits are men with partners who shoulder the majority of the childcare responsibilities. But if that shifts — and if employees continue to have the upper hand in the labor market — parents may receive more support at work.

“We just don't have enough representation of parents, or children and young children, who are actually battling out these needs in the C-Suite,” she said.

Check out my full interview with Sacchetti here.?

What’s Working

Black women on boards. Only 4% of board seats at S&P 500 companies are held by Black women. A new organization — Black Women on Boards — wants to change that. “If you say you just want a black woman, that’s not helpful,” said one of the firm’s leaders. “I need to know how that person, in the context of their profile, is going to help that organization. [Fortune

Record high at law schools. The number of Black women leading American law schools reached a high of 28 last year. The news comes at a pivotal moment for the legal education world, as it struggles to address inequity and systemic racism. [The 19th]

HR execs hit the boardroom. With the pandemic shining a light on the importance of functioning workplace cultures, human-resource executives are gaining positions on corporate boards. The share of board seats at S&P 1500 companies awarded to people with HR skills and experience jumped to 19.4% as of January, up from 11.3% two years ago. [Bloomberg]

What’s Not

27x. 27 times more men than women joined the labor force last month, leaving nearly 1.1 million fewer women in the workforce compared to this time last year. A report from the National Women’s Law Center describes the distance we’ll need to go for women’s recovery at work. [NWLC]

Working Together LIVE: Thursdays at 3ET

On February 10th, IFundWomen of Color General Manager Olivia Owens will break down the funding landscape for female founders of color and the growing opportunity for investment and growth. [Join us here]

On February 17th, A. Hunter and Company Founder Ashley M. Hunter will come on to discuss how to manage risk during uncertain times [Join us here]

On February 24th, Cityblock Health Co-Founder Toyin Ajayi will join us to discuss bringing more racial equity to our healthcare system. [Join us here]

What topics do you want to discuss next time? Let me know in the comments below using #WorkingTogether