Issue 26: Busted brackets

Welcome to Parento's weekly newsletter. This issue's highlights include:

• How to engage your younger employees
• What March Madness means for parents
• What Europe and Australia are getting right
• Our special guest speaker at tomorrow's Deep Dive
• Freebies, a timely meme, and more

Younger employees are disengaged at work; here's what managers can do to turn it around

Gallup's employee engagement survey collected data from 2.7 million employees, across 100,000 employers and workplaces and found that younger employees - those born after 1989 - are increasingly disengaged. Over a quarter are actively looking for a new job.

Millennials and Gen Z employees have seen the greatest decline in feeling cared about by someone at work, having opportunities to learn and grow, feeling connected to the mission of the organization, having progress discussions with managers, being given opportunities to develop, and feeling that their opinions count.

Here are proactive suggestions for managers to re-build employee trust and engagement:

1. Clarify role and organizational structure. 70% of employees said they took on added responsibilities during and after the pandemic as teams were restructured with no formal changes to their role, title, job description, or expectations, and little to no training. Clarity is important: managers should outline responsibilities and expectations, and make training available.
2. Provide regular, real feedback. Feedback should be provided regularly and be clear and actionable. Employees who have meaningful conversations weekly with their direct manager are more engaged, and report feeling more invested in the company because they are involved in goal setting. This is an opportunity for managers to have 1-1 meetings with teams and individual contributors.
3. Focus on employee wellbeing. Beyond flex work, employees crave work-life boundaries and respect for their personal lives. 68% of Gen Z reports feeling stressed at work; these employees are more likely to be burnt out and "job hop." Managers should work with HR to make sure employee needs are being met across all four benefit categories: required, financial, lifestyle, and wellness. An audit of benefits might be needed for larger organizational change, but smaller steps can be setting expectations for emailing or being available after hours (if at all!) and encouraging use of PTO.

65% of millennials rate greater work-life balance and better personal wellbeing as "very important" when considering a job.

March is Madness for moms, ironically during Women's History Month

For many March is just about busted brackets, but if you're a working parent, your kids are on Spring Break and it can feel like single elimination til the death. The house is loud, the food is evaporating, screen time has gone out the window, the table is sticky and we're not really sure why, and someone has been in pjs all day.

For many working parents, especially those with mandated in-person or RTO policies, managing Spring Break is a strain.

Unfortunately, the weight of managing it often falls on mothers, who disproportionately shoulder childcare and household coordination.

They're managing schedules, planning activities, making sure no one is crying/whining/fighting/hungry/wet/bored and it's just too much.

Please thank a working parent, and especially a mom, today. And if you're looking for another bracket, check our ours:

Europe and Australia extend parental leave

Europe and Australis are once again reminding us that the U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world without guaranteed paid parental leave.

Last week Australia's Senate passed legislation to extend paid parental leave from 20 to 26 weeks, increasing by an additional 2 weeks every year until 2026. The leave provides minimums for primary (usually birthing) and secondary parents, with a minimum of 2 weeks for birthing mothers. The leave is paid based on employee's earnings, but guarantees a base pay of the national minimum wage (around $580 USD/week).

And the European Union announced a resolution to extend paid maternity and paternity leave, alongside other individual nation resolutions. The average length of maternity leave is 21 weeks (14 weeks is the minimum required offering) compared to 3 weeks of paternity or secondary leave.

Other nation-states have introduced policies to expand support for working parents:

• Due to the costs of parenting, France experienced the steepest decline in birth rates since WWII. To recover birth rates, French president Macron proposes extending offerings. In addition to maternity leave, French parents can take additional parental leave for one year with the possibly of renewing twice.
• Spain passed an extension to its parental leave policy, with flexibility until the minor reaches 8 years old and set minimum lengths of leave for parents.

With Parento, employers can design a customizable and affordable paid parental leave policy. Schedule a 1-1 call with Sales.

Join our Deep Dive with Cheyenne Varner

Tomorrow Cheyenne Varner , founder of The Educated Birth is joining us for our March Deep Dive, over on Instagram!

Join us tomorrow, 3/26 at 2pm ET on Instagram (@parentoleave).

Cheyenne and Amanda will be breaking down how mothers can take charge of their health education, and advocate for themselves in a healthcare system that works against mothers of color.

Grab your freebies ??

Check out our newly launched library of downloads for HR and parents.

What we're reading

• This encouraging perspective from a working mother on why maternity leave is not a career death sentence. She shares strategies to make it a moment for career growth and development.
• The national trends report from Best Places for Working Parents breaks down benefit offerings by industry and it's not what we were expecting, in a good way.

Your friendly reminder...

See you next week!

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