Are the issues of parenthood even more important today?  

For several years now, there has been an extension of family frameworks and parenting methods. While in our imagination the corporate measures on this subject are aimed at pregnant women, they must now involve more fathers, single-parent families (which concern 80% of women  in France and are constantly growing) but also the sandwich generation (which concerns parents taking care of their children and their parents).

The COVID-19 crisis has further amplified the blurring of the boundaries between professional and personal life and employed parents have been strongly impacted. In particular, mothers who said in 2021 that they were 15% less confident than men about their professional future in France. Internationally, in 2024, almost 1 in 2 women considered having had children to have a negative impact on their career.

What about equality in parenthood? 

 While 89% of employees are parents, not all experience parenthood in the same way. According to a 2021 IFOP study, the professional mental load of women with children indicated an index of 5.2 compared to 4.6 for fathers. As a result, mothers are more likely to work part-time after a birth (31% of women vs. 3% of men), which has an impact on their salaries and career development. In France, women's incomes show a 20% drop for a 5% increase in men's, in the 5 years following the arrival of a child. 

Applying measures for parenthood therefore amounts to compensating for and reducing gender inequalities, leading to positive effects on employees.... But also on the organisations.

Does the company really have anything to gain from this?  

According to INSEE and DARES, 32% of mothers consider that they do not have enough time to do their work properly, because of the mental load of the family. Fathers, on the other hand, increase their working hours after the arrival of a child, and start to exceed their usual hours. On the one hand, this results in the frustration of not being able to do one's job well, and on the other hand, the feeling of being overwhelmed.

These are all psycho-social risk factors that can lead to burnout or burnout. But also to a context conducive to the withdrawal of mothers from the labour market, an increase in sick leave, conflicts in work groups, and thus, to loss of value for the company. Preventing and acting to avoid these risks and gendered trajectories in parents' careers allows companies to protect themselves from these financial and human risks.

In addition, adopting an HR policy for parenthood leads the company to develop an attractive employer brand and helps to retain its employees, especially young people between 25 and 35 years old. In fact, nearly 82% of employees would be willing to change employers for another that would offer more services related to parenthood. Regarding the flagship measures requested by employees, they are mainly oriented towards places in crèches (58.3%), followed by complementary childcare (54.2%) and flexible hours (53.1%).

The issues related to childcare resources are indeed crucial and can represent a strategic investment to reduce turnover and strengthen employee loyalty. Several corporate initiatives make it possible to compensate for the lack of state aid in this regard, such as the offer of Cakes Body's childcare fees to its employees in the United States, which amounts to $36,000.

What are the false and good ideas to support parenthood? 

The most deployed measure to manage parenting issues in companies is the increase in teleworking, which concerns 80% of them.  However, this initiative goes against the expectations of employees, who are only 29.1% to request it. A practice that should be qualified. According to studies, the latter particularly penalises women, who are more often surrounded by children than men (48% vs. 37%) and have less often a dedicated and isolated workspace (29% vs. 42%).

Thus, according to the Gender Equality Diversity European and International Standard (GEEIS) label, the preferred measure is compensation for parental leave, with an emphasis on paternal leave, particularly during the first months of the child's life.

Indeed, nearly one in three fathers does not take advantage of this leave, even though according to several researchers such as Hélène Périvier, it is a major lever for rebalancing gender inequalities and better development for both parents. It is therefore essential that organizations encourage fathers to take this leave in its entirety immediately after the birth of the child. The company may also offer a longer leave for the father, or a bonus to encourage him to take it.

Sweden, for example, has the longest parental leave (240 days per parent) and one of the most generous in the world (with an allowance corresponding to 80% of salary over 80% of the maximum duration of the leave). This measure is a success in view of the 90% of fathers using it and the productivity rate ranked among the best at work in the world. 

In addition to the main measures related to flexibility or funding for childcare solutions, organizations can continue their investment elsewhere! Regulating the meeting times at the beginning and end of the day so as not to penalise parents, guaranteeing a right to disconnect or offering a mutual insurance that is advantageous for the family, especially for single-parent families...  

These are all ways to fully integrate parenthood to reduce the production of psycho-social risks for parents, to improve their well-being, and therefore their ability to work better.