After parents discovered the benefits of staying home with their children and enjoying more flexible schedules, employers noticed parents are prioritising time with their children during the earliest stages of life.
Expectations have risen. There are challenges, though: some countries do not mandate paid parental leave, and statutory leave does not always include every parent. In reality, many parents are excluded from conventional maternity and paternity schemes.
To develop this type of policy, your organisation should pledge to exceed baseline statutory requirements for family leave — particularly in jurisdictions with no minimum standards.
This guide explains how to design and operate a policy that lets you provide this support to your team while helping you attract and keep top performers.
Although you could base your family leave policy on the statutory minimum, that choice isn’t necessarily the best one.
To win top talent, your parental leave policy must be competitive, inclusive, equitable, and compassionate.
Employees planning to start families look for leave that lets them do so without sacrificing career progress, opportunities, or pay.
Job seekers actively compare benefits packages when choosing roles. According to Remote’s Global Benefits Report, 60% of employees say they have chosen one role over another because of a superior benefits package, while 35% of global workers declined or left a job due to benefits concerns.
of people aged 25–34 would turn down an offer if parental leave benefits were inadequate.
Benefits & Leave. — 11 MIN
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Improving parental leave or adding related benefits can be costly. Leaders may worry about budgets. Yet Remote’s research indicates 78% of decision makers observed stronger employee retention after upgrading benefits.
Given that the cost to recruit a new employee is believed to be three to four times the new hire’s salary, investing in benefits can reduce long-term costs and help attract top candidates.
Another motive for offering a generous family policy to a global team is to address the wide variance in parental leave worldwide. Crafting an equitable benefits package is crucial if you hire across multiple regions.
When assembling an international team, ensuring your parental policy is inclusive is essential. Regardless of where team members live or their family circumstances, the policy should deliver a fair experience for everyone.
Although many countries mandate parental leave, statutory family leave varies widely and is not consistent across jurisdictions.
Bulgaria provides 410 days of paid maternal leave, with mothers receiving 90% of salary while on leave. Although generous for birth parents, paternity leave is just 15 days after childbirth, and fathers can only share the mother’s leave after the child is six months old.
Sweden also provides extensive leave and is more gender-inclusive: each parent is entitled to 240 days of leave, paid at roughly 80% of regular wages. Single parents receive the full 480 days a couple would share, and multiple births grant an additional 180 days per extra child.
In the UK, qualified employees with the correct notice and contract may take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, with 39 weeks eligible for maternity pay.Paid paternity leave is capped at 2 weeks. The UK also providesunpaid parental leave: parents can take 18 weeks’ leave per child up until the child turns 18, though they are restricted to four weeks per child each year unless an employer agrees otherwise.
The U.S. requires some employers to grant 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually for qualifying reasons, including childbirth. Eligibility is limited to employees who have worked for the employer for at least a year and clocked 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months. Various cities and states have enacted their ownstatutory paid parental leave laws, which makes U.S. family leave rules more complex.
For instance, Estonia provides 82 weeks for a child’s primary caregiver, whether birth, adoptive, or foster parents, and Japan offers up to a year of leave for each parent.
However, it’s unwise to rely solely on any single country’s laws when shaping your own parental leave programmes. Instead, establish globally fair and inclusive policies so all current and prospective employees feel supported.
Understanding parental leave rules internationally can be complex
Remote reviewed policies across 11 countries to highlight legal differences. Explore ourInclusive Parental Leave Policies Research to learn more.
You might think “we already have a maternity leave policy,” but most such policies are limited in scope.
Maternity leave was first suggested by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1919 to give working mothers time to have and care for their babies. Though revised over time, its original purpose focused on birth parents.
Remote & Async Work — 15 MIN
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More than a century after the first family leave standard, we now recognise many types of parents and caregivers; maternity leave alone does not cover them all. Fathers need time to bond with children, as do adoptive parents, foster parents, stepparents, and other caregivers.
Consider the case of Gary Ackerman, a New York City teacher who became a father in 1969. He repeatedly sought leave equal to that granted to his female colleagues and was turned down.
At the time, leave was unpaid and intended exclusively for female teachers; men were expected to keep working. The Ackermans sued, with Rita Ackerman arguing that a women-only leave policy forced women into caregiver roles and excluded men from parenting. The family won their case, but the ruling affected only the NYC Board of Education. It took decades before paternity leave became widespread.
Twenty-one percent of women and 16% of men who have taken parental leave say it hindered their career progression.
Nevertheless, maternity and paternity leave alone are inadequate. A truly inclusive family leave policy must be broader in scope.
of employees believe their employer should do more to make parental leave policies more inclusive.
"In an era when we aim to be more inclusive, intentionally covering all genders in parental leave ensures it applies to all aspects of becoming a parent without singling out a gender. It should enable any parent with a child under one year to take parental leave without assumptions about caregiving. Flexibility and choice are what matter most to employees."
Remote’s director of people enablement | Amanda Day
Offering maternity leave alone, or even both maternity and paternity leave, is not sufficient. Parental leave is preferable for several reasons.
Labels such as “maternity” and “paternity” exclude parents outside the gender binary and those who don’t identify with traditional mother or father roles. This matters because such parents might lack legal protections or government-provided leave.
Foster and step parents, for instance, may feel existing maternity and paternity policies do not apply to them.
This can leave many parents feeling unsupported by their employer. An inclusive parental leave policy that recognises these situations can be crucial for attracting and retaining high performers seeking more inclusive benefits.
Terms like “maternity” and “paternity” also imply a fixed purpose for leave, typically for childbirth and the early months. Parental leave should be usable in many different circumstances, such as:
When same-sex couples expect a child, parental leave avoids forcing the couple to decide who takes maternity or paternity leave. Paid paternity leave has traditionally been rarer and shorter than maternity leave, which can disadvantage two-father, trans, or non-binary families who may otherwise need to use other leave types to bond with a child.
Although some maternity and paternity policies include adoption, many do not. Parental leave should cover time for adoption processes and helping an adopted child settle into the home.
When an employee becomes a foster parent, they need time to bond and settle the child into their family. Parental leave allows this without loss of income.
Many parental leave programmes omit stepparents, who play a significant role in a child’s life. An equitable policy enables stepparents to take necessary bonding time.
Shared parental leave lets two parents split a pool of leave; one parent can surrender some days so the other can use them, providing greater flexibility in how leave is used.
An estimated 10–20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. It’s likely someone you know has experienced this silent grief, which often goes unrecognised.
Most miscarriages happen in the earliest weeks and months of pregnancy, often before the person has shared news outside the family.
A 2019 UK study discovered that one in three parents who suffered pregnancy loss developed post-traumatic stress. In organisations committed to DEI, these values should be reflected in family leave policies. Such provisions attract top global talent, as many professionals seek roles offering these supports. Some developed post-traumatic stress, while others experienced anxiety and depression; although symptoms improved over time, elevated levels persisted nine months after the loss.
Offering compassionate leave for miscarriage and other pregnancy-related trauma, such as unsuccessful fertility treatments or ectopic pregnancies, signals genuine care for employees who might otherwise feel obliged to work through their grief. It shows real support for team members facing fertility issues or miscarriage risks.
This kind of leave goes beyond bereavement and supports an employee’s physical and mental wellbeing. Following a miscarriage, someone may still have physical symptoms for days and might need medical attention. Emotionally, they may be unable to work. Linking pregnancy loss leave with mental health support can therefore be important.
are reluctant to take their full parental leave because of stigma.
Discussions about miscarriage are not commonplace, particularly at work, so making team members aware of policies and ensuring they feel safe using them can be challenging. Employers can take three specific steps to help:
Provide clear, easily accessible documentation about your policies so employees can discreetly consult them and understand how to access support and leave.
Although miscarriage directly affects the person who was pregnant, it also impacts their partner.
Ensure managers know how to discuss pregnancy loss sensitively. Support them with training or reference documentation so they can handle these matters discreetly when they arise.
Reproductive rights vary globally: only 75 countries permit abortion on request. In other places, abortion is limited to life-saving or health-related reasons, and in 24 countries it is banned entirely.
With an international workforce, recognising these differences is essential when designing a reproductive health policy. At Remote, we support employees making the health decisions right for them. Accordingly, we produce documentation explaining our policy and how staff can access funds when required.
Financial support is a key element of a reproductive health policy, because it extends beyond time off. We provide $2,000 USD to employees or their partners living in areas without safe, legal abortion access to help cover travel, lodging, or medical expenses. These payments are processed quickly and confidentially, and we do not record or retain data on them.
Deciding to end a pregnancy is often difficult and can affect an employee’s mental health. Ensure your reproductive health policy links to your organisation’s mental health supports.
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Balancing family care is time consuming and can be particularly hard for parents of young children who work from home. Parents juggling work and childcare often feel forced to choose between being a good parent or a good employee.
Allowing flexible or part-time schedules for parents can enable them to work when they are most productive. Employers may worry about reduced hours after a parent shifts to part time, but flexibility can benefit both the organisation and employees—especially in asynchronous work environments. Flexible schedules support life-work balance, helping parents prioritise family while continuing to deliver quality work.
Flexibility may be the single most valued and effective benefit an employer can provide. For parents, it allows responsiveness to family needs while managing work responsibilities.
Remote’s Senior Expert of Global Benefits Design and Strategy | Joana Viana
Instead of requiring exhausted parents to work synchronously while caring for children, offering schedule autonomy demonstrates trust and is likely to be rewarded with sustained productivity.
In some countries, legislation already mandates the option to work part time if both parents are employed, so providing flexible arrangements can strengthen your psychological contract with employees and simplify compliance.
An inclusive parental leave policy should cover all types of parents: birth parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, and stepparents. It should also encompass all gender identities, sexual orientations, and family configurations. If a staff member is a parent, the leave policy should apply to them.
Using inclusive language in a parental leave policy helps all team members feel supported and empowered to do what’s best for their families. Use gender-neutral terms (“parent” instead of “mother” or “father”), avoid labelling caregivers as primary or secondary, and write clearly so everyone understands the policy.
An inclusive policy should also work to shift perceptions about gender roles. For example, encourage men to take parental leave, accept bereavement for pregnancy loss, and avoid describing women as the default primary caregivers.
While inclusion makes every employee feel valued, equity ensures every team member can access the same benefits.
Equitable parental leave includes:
The same benefits, resources, and opportunities for every team member, regardless of gender or family setup
Equitable benefits irrespective of employees’ residence or the statutory leave their country mandates
Designing an equitable parental leave policy demands careful planning. Top talent seeks a benefits offering that enables them to take the time needed to raise a family. Ensure your company meets the minimum legal requirements across jurisdictions while delivering a consistent and fair experience to all employees when they use benefits.
No one wants their family to be disadvantaged compared with colleagues. An inclusive and equitable parental leave policy makes every team member feel valued and supported by the organisation.
An equitable family leave policy also helps reject stereotypes, entrenched gender roles, and cultural omissions that pigeonhole people into specific family roles. By using inclusive language and enforcing equity, you empower every family to choose the care approach that works best for them.
Welcoming a new child is a moment to celebrate. New parents want to take their entitled time without fear of judgement. Cultivating a culture that supports parents and encourages leave is essential.
For example, one employer offers a $2,000 stipend to pregnant staff to help cover maternity clothing. For many parents, knowing flexible hours will be available after their child arrives is the most valued benefit.
Remote’s benefits research found that flexibility is the most demanded benefit for most workers, particularly parents. Without flexible options like async work, remote roles, and location independence, some top candidates may look elsewhere for greater flexibility.
Earlier we noted Japan provides a year of paid parental leave to both parents, yet research shows only 13% of men in Japan actually take that leave. This pattern appears elsewhere: men frequently do not use their allotted leave. One survey reported Australian men avoid leave due to financial concerns, and the second most common reason was fear of appearing less committed at work.
A BBC report found that non-birthing parents worldwide are less likely to take the leave available to them. Causes include internalised breadwinner stereotypes and worries about workplace perceptions.
Don’t stop at policy drafting. Put in place workflows and processes that make transitions to and from leave smoother, so parents can take and return from leave without excessive stress. Managers and leaders should model taking leave themselves; otherwise employees will see the gap between policy and practice.
Remote’s Senior Expert of Global Benefits Design and Strategy | Joana Viana
Many parents still feel pressure to return to work sooner than they’d like. A 2021 study found 50% of mothers reported maternity leave harmed their careers, including exposure to microaggressions and negative comments about taking extra time off.
Therefore, team leaders must publicly support parental leave and encourage staff to take the time they are entitled to.
Workers often judge themselves more harshly than peers or management do. They may fear that taking time off signals a lack of commitment. Yet parental leave exists to protect physical and mental wellbeing; failing to take it can harm job performance.
To reduce hesitation from team members worried about leave, leaders should actively champion family leave policies and encourage employees to use parental leave without fear of judgement.
of professionals in sales, media, and marketing do not know how much parental leave their employer provides.
Communicate proactively and openly about leave policies so team members understand available benefits and how to access them.
Reinforce the value of taking parental leave and make it clear family responsibilities come first.
Promote a healthy life-work balance, which is vital for maintaining engagement, motivation, and productivity.
Reassure employees that taking parental leave will not harm long-term career prospects.
Create a defined return-to-work plan with the employee and outline a structured career progression roadmap to offer added reassurance.
Embed protections in appraisals to prevent parental leave from limiting career growth.
Parents want encouragement and support before, during, and after their parental leave. Consider the experience at each of these three stages.
HR teams often concentrate help around the immediate pre- and post-leave periods. Yet many parents value the option to stay engaged and connected during their leave.
Offering parents the choice to participate in team social activities while on leave lets individuals decide what they prefer. Employers should still encourage parents to disconnect and enjoy time off, but optional connection can benefit some new parents who value social contact; sometimes adult conversation during leave is undervalued.
The shift back to work can be difficult, so include return support in your policy and document it well. Birthing parents often worry about burdening colleagues who must update them. Assign a return-to-work buddy similar to an onboarding buddy to help the returning parent ramp up and adapt to changes.
Creating and running a global parental leave policy can be challenging for remote employers. Different jurisdictions have varied rules, and compliance management can quickly become complex.
For example, while the United States may not require paid parental leave, the FMLA provides protections during leave. Under FMLA, employees often have stronger protections than during regular employment; even in at-will states, FMLA leave typically protects against dismissal.
For this reason, we advise global employers to adopt a company-wide equity policy for all staff, regardless of location. After committing to equity, you can tailor execution across jurisdictions. The aim is to deliver a consistent experience to employees in similar situations, not to resolve every global leave disparity single-handedly.
This is where an Employer of Record (EOR) can be helpful. (like Remote) is a firm that acts as the local employer to help you hire workers in other countries. EORs understand local employment law and handle benefits administration, payroll, and tax compliance, relieving you of the need to master every country’s regulations when hiring remote employees.
Remote & Async Work — 15 MIN
Although it may seem daunting, an inclusive and equitable parental leave policy can be straightforward to establish and run. You do not need to become a global HR expert or hire lawyers in every country to employ a local worker. With an EOR such as Remote, you can tap global talent and provide the benefits they need.
If you require additional guidance designing benefits, this guide offers a step-by-step introduction to building a global benefits programme for your team.
Remember
Parental leave is just one facet of a benefits programme that must comply with local statutory obligations. Remote’s global benefits specialists and local HR advisers can guide employers on market norms to build a globally fair, locally competitive package for your workforce. Our benefits team can also assemble a global benefits package tailored to your organisation.
Providing an inclusive and equitable parental leave policy is a strong step toward creating a benefits package that attracts and retains the best global talent. It also evens the field for parents in regions without statutory leave. A generous parental leave policy signals that family is a priority and that your organisation respects employees’ life-work balance. Communicate that message, and skilled parents and parents-to-be worldwide will be drawn to your forward-looking company.
But delivering equitable leave everywhere can feel overwhelming. That’s why partnering with global employment solutions like Remote is essential.
We manage the complexities of your global HR operations while our platform keeps administration straightforward, enabling your team to focus on global strategy design.
Employer of Record & PEO — 30 MIN
For further details on building your global team
Guide to hiring international employees | Anastasia Pshegodskaya
