Cocoon’s new dataset of venture backed companies provides insight into how much time employers are offering for paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave across different company sizes and industries. Last updated March 2024.
Policy trends
While employers may be pulling back on perks that attract new talent, they're continuing to invest in policies that really matter to employees and improve retention.
Median paid parental leave for birthing parents
Median paid parental leave for non-birthing parents
Median paid medical leave for employees
Median paid caregiver leave for employees
Hebba Youssef, Founder & Creator of I Hate it Here and Chief People Officer | Workweek
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Parental leave
The number of companies in the US offering paid parental leave policies continues to climb.
95% of employers in our data set offer paid parental leave.
Early stage companies offer some of the most competitive policies.
As companies scale, their birthing parent policies expand versus non-birthing parent policies which stay relatively stagnant.
How much parental leave different size companies are offering birthing and non-birthing parents.
The minimum and maximum amount of parental leave companies offer to birthing and non-birthing parents.
How parental leave policies are distributed across our dataset.
Percentage of companies with a tenure requirement in our dataset. Ranges are inclusive of top end.
How much parental leave different companies are offering across different industries for birthing and non-birthing parents.
Shelby Wolpa, People Leader and Founder | Shelby Wolpa Consulting
Our H2 2024 paid leave benchmarks will be published in late September. Sign up now to get the new dataset delivered directly to your inbox.
Medical leave
Medical leaves make up more than half of all FMLA leaves yet paid policies lag behind parental leave.
Since March 2022, the median time offered for medical leaves has increased 76% from 3.4 weeks to 6 weeks.
Early stage companies in our dataset offer the most generous medical leave policies.
The percentage of companies offering paid medical leave has increased 8% since our last report in March 2023.
How much medical leave different size companies are offering to their employees.
The minimum and maximum amount of medical leave companies offer to their employees.
How medical leave policies are distributed across our dataset.
Percentage of companies with a tenure requirement in our dataset. Ranges are inclusive of top end.
How much medical leave different companies are offering across different industries.
Laura Hammond, People Leader and Founder | The People People
Calculate the total cost of a paid leave program with Cocoon's new tool
Caregiver leave
A promising trend is the increase in paid caregiver leave policies—something that may impact the 1 in 5 Americans that act as caregivers.
1 in 5 employers in our dataset offers a paid caregiver leave policy.
Of those employers with a paid parental leave, 21% have paid caregiver leave. Of those with paid medical leave, 35% have paid caregiver leave.
The percentage of companies offering paid caregiver leave has increased 9% since our last report in March 2023.
How much caregiver leave different size companies are offering to their employees.
The minimum and maximum amount of caregiver leave companies offer to their employees.
How caregiver leave policies are distributed across our dataset.
Percentage of companies with a tenure requirement in our dataset. Ranges are inclusive of top end.
How much caregiver leave different companies are offering across different industries.
Employer insights
EdTech/e-Learning, BioTech, FinTech, and Consumer tech are the best industries for employees to work in for leave. All show up at or above the median for all leave types.
Only 1 in 5 companies offer paid leave policies for parental, medical, and caregiver leaves.
Consumer tech leads the way and may be the best industry for employees to work in if they want the best of all benefits.
Caregiver employees may want to avoid Venture capital, Adtech, and Hardware industries as they have no paid caregiver benefits in our dataset.
Percent of companies in each industry that offer a paid leave policy across parental, medical, and caregiver leave.
How much paid parental, medical, and caregiver leave the top industries offer to their employees.
Final thoughts
There isn't a perfect answer for what a "good policy" at a company looks like. Employers should take into account where they stand among their peers to make sure they have competitive policy offerings.
Create a culture of caregiving at your company. 3 out of 4 employees have caregiving responsibilities—if you think you don't have any caregivers at your company, you're just not asking the right questions yet.
If you have policies that are at or above the median, especially within your industry, market it! Make sure your employees and any candidates know that you prioritize leave.
