The September Wrap Up

ICYMI, this month the surgeon general issued an advisory on the relationship between parental stress and mental health. TL;DR, they’re not what we’d call the perfect couple.?

It’s tough out there for parents and caregivers—and (unsurprisingly) access to paid leave is on the list of solutions the surgeon general discusses. It’s also on the list of topics we should all be paying attention to this election season. Paid leave policy matters when it comes to making informed decisions for our employees and our families.?

Understand your leave options

Consider this: 27% of employees have access to paid leave through their employer. This means 73% of working Americans don’t have any access to paid leave. We undoubtedly must do better. But, even without paid leave, job protection is important and a lot of people don’t know what they’re entitled to. Cocoon’s free leave planning tool can help with that.?

A huge part of Cocoon’s mission—to empower every working person to take care of the important things in life when it matters most—is to ensure every working person is aware of the paid leave options available to them.?

Our free employee leave planner is a free interactive tool powered by the same technology as Cocoon’s leave management platform.?

Use it, share it with your employees, colleagues, and friends, and help us empower working people with paid leave knowledge so they can make the best decisions for themselves and their families.?

The ultimate guide to supporting a team member through leave

With over 8,000 leaves taken with Cocoon, we know firsthand what it takes to plan a leave well, the questions people tend to have, and the factors that can best improve the employee experience. Here are 23 ways to support employees through leave →?

From the community

Our friends over at Parentaly recently surveyed over 3,000 women about their leave experiences. They found that 94% (!) of women would consider a company’s parental leave policy when evaluating a job today. That’s what we mean when we say paid leave is table stakes! Read about the other results from Parentaly:

What we’re reading

• Parents Under Pressure: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Mental Health & Well-Being of Parents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
• Paid Sick Leave Is On The Ballot In Red States (HuffPost)
• Bipartisan push for family-friendly policies gains momentum (Politico)
• Moms Lose an Average of $9,500 When They Take Maternity Leave (What to Expect)

Until next time,

Team Cocoon