As the conversation around paid parental leave increases at both national and global levels, some employers are taking matters into their own hands to support their employees. French healthcare company Sanofi is the latest organization to enhance its paid parental leave policy for its 100,000 global workers.
Sanofi’s staff will have access to 14 weeks of paid parental leave at 100% of their salary, as well as an additional two weeks of unpaid leave. Any Sanofi employee, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, will be able to use this time off. The company also offers six months of paid short-term disability leave. Employees will not see a change in policy in countries where the paid leave is greater than 14 weeks.
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“We recognize that there's a changing landscape in business today and our quest is to attract and retain the best of the best,” says Clint Wallace, senior vice president of HR Sanofi North America. “We try to provide as many benefits within our means that's going to enable our working parents to look after themselves and their families because then when it's time for them to come to work, they can come to work as their full, authentic selves.”
Updating their paid leave policy is part of a broader effort on Sanofi’s part to support gender equality in the workplace. Women bear the brunt of caregiver responsibilities and are more likely than men to exit the workforce as a result. Over the last year, one in three women said they were considering leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers as a result of the added personal responsibilities thrust upon them by the pandemic, according to research from McKinsey and Company.
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“We have a gender parity aspiration of 50/50 at the most senior levels of our company by 2025,” Wallace says. “In order for us to enable that, these are some of the things we have to do in order to ensure that we can attract and retain women in particular in our company.”
Other related benefits Sanofi offers in order to better support working parents and women specifically include financial assistance programs for adoption, surrogacy or infertility needs, PTO for pre-maternity needs, special needs support, and child care discounts. In order to create a workplace where employees feel valued and willing to go above and beyond for their employer, then the organization must make investments in benefits that support the needs of their workers, Wallace says.
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“There's been a huge mental strain on the U.S. worker,” he says. “Offering something like this, we see it as an investment in our employees, not a cost, it's an investment in their well-being. It's the right investment that's going to yield great results, not only for employees, but the patients who count on them for the work that they do every day.”
