In July 2022, consumer healthcare company Haleon was established following a split from GSK Consumer Health. Although not a household name, Haleon’s portfolio of products certainly are–think brands like Theraflu, Sensodyne, Centrum, and Advil, just to name a few.

On its first day as an independent company, Haleon announced its decision to offer employees across the globe 26 weeks of paid parental leave. Haleon also clarified that the policy was open to all employees “regardless of gender or sexuality and covers biological birth, surrogacy, and adoption.”

In a release about the new parental leave policy, Haleon Chief HR Officer Mairéad Nayager said, “Haleon has a compelling purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity, and what better way to live this purpose than to support colleagues at an important time in their lives.”  

“This is a market-leading parental leave policy and is central to Haleon’s ambition of creating an inclusive and diverse workforce and supporting our colleagues to thrive both within their family environment and at work,” said Nayager.  

The new parental policy will be effective starting on January 1, 2023.  

Rethinking Parental Leave in the United States

According to research from the Society of Human Resource Management, only 35% of organizations offer paid maternity leave and 27% offer paid paternity leave.  

What’s more, research from career insights platform Zippia found that while 40% of employers offer a standard 12-week maternity leave, only 29% of women take nine weeks or longer for both paid and unpaid leave. In many cases, a lack of paid leave forces many new parents back to the office sooner than they would have liked.  

More and more, especially amid record inflation and the tight labor market, competitive benefits are critical for companies looking to stand out from the competition–both in recruiting and retaining top talent.  

Consider how giants like Meta, Adobe, Bank of America, Live Nation, Netflix, and more have recently expanded parental leave policies in recent years.  

The United States Lags Behind on Paid Leave Globally  

Data from the WORLD Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles found that the United States is one of six countries in the world—and the only wealthy one—without a national paid leave program in place. Aside from the United States, this list includes Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and the Marshall Islands.  

In an October 2021 interview with The New York Times, Jody Heymann, the Founding Director of the Policy Center and a distinguished professor of public health and public affairs at U.C.L.A. said, “When you look at other countries, there is evidence of what people need and what's feasible.” “"And by both those standards, 12 weeks is a modest amount, and anything else is grossly inadequate.," said Heymann. "The rest of the world, including low-income countries, have found a way to do this.”  

What’s more, according to the center’s data from 2019, the average paid maternity leave globally is 29 weeks, while the average paid paternity leave is 16 weeks.  

To learn more about leave policies in your state, check out our handy state-by-state guide.  

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