VANCOUVER — The pandemic’s impact on women, especially mothers, is undeniable. School and child-care centre closures forced an already overworked demographic to juggle jobs and 24/7 parenting. Burnout, inevitably, followed. One in three moms considered quitting or scaling back their careers, and many left the workforce. In the tech industry, where women are historically underrepresented, they’ve seen “little or no” job recovery.

One of the major barriers for working women who want to have kids or are already mothers comes down to money. The federal government offers some support for leaves, while companies have traditionally been opaque about benefits.

In an effort to increase transparency around parental leave benefits, New York-based media outlet theSkimm shared its paid family leave policy and urged other firms to #ShowUsYourLeave.

Canadian tech companies of all sizes joined the trend, highlighting their benefits for new parents. Here’s what some have disclosed, and why it matters: 

Why #ShowUsYourLeave: The Canadian tech firms that spoke with The Logic mostly wanted to highlight their benefits as both a recruitment tool and to help increase transparency around family-leave policies. “In tech, it’s not uncommon to have great benefit packages, but this is not always the case in other industries,” wrote Julie Kerr, director of growth at Calgary-based Avanti Software, in an email. “Opening up these topics in the workplace can initiate intentional conversations and positive change.”

The perks: Most commonly, companies offer a sizable top-up to the weekly maximum of $638 the federal government pays. Toronto’s Wealthsimple staff can get 27 weeks at their full salary. Vancouver’s Thinkific subsidizes up to 100 per cent of new parents’ salaries for at least 12 weeks, with a maximum of 32 weeks, depending on how long the staff member has worked there. Ottawa-headquartered Shopify offers up to 18 weeks topped up to 85 per cent of their salary for non-birthing parents, and up to 34 weeks at the same rate for birthing parents.

Many of the companies also offer a baby bonus, usually paid out once the employee returns to work. At Vancouver-based Guusto and Shopify, it’s $1,000; Toronto’s Ada offers $300. Calgary’s Benevity, meanwhile, gives non-birthing parents who take at least two months of leave a co-parenting bonus of one month’s pay “as a reward for sharing parental leave,” wrote spokesperson Lauren Stewart in an email. Avanti offers a similar co-parenting bonus of two weeks’ pay.

Pregnancy-loss coverage: For employees who experience a miscarriage, several companies have started offering paid time off to recover and grieve. Ada offers six weeks of fully paid time off.

Vancouver-based Hootsuite tops up government sickness or maternity benefits for pregnancy-loss leave, up to 100 per cent of base pay for a maximum of six weeks. When the company first introduced its parental-leave benefits, it wasn’t sure what would most resonate with staff, wrote Paul Dhillon, director of total rewards, in an email. “However, after introducing our pregnancy-loss benefit, we saw that it was the benefit that sparked the most engagement … validating how important this is to our people.”

Who’s OOO: In Canada, women take the bulk of available parental leave. Moms take leave almost twice as often as dads, according to Statistics Canada, based on data from 2012 to 2017. In Quebec, men tend to take leave more often than the national average, thanks to an offer of a multi-week leave at roughly three-quarters of their pay. It’s been suggested that benefits for all genders and at higher payouts, much like those offered by some Canadian tech firms, could help close some of the inequity between working mothers and fathers. Amid a tech talent crunch, experts say it can be a talent attraction and retention strategy.

At Wealthsimple, 23 people are currently on parental leave: nine men and 14 women. In 2021, of those who took parental leave at Toronto-based Alida, 71 per cent were women and 29 per cent were men. Last year, at Ada, more men than women took family leave.

Adam G., an Ada account manager who took a nine-month leave with a top-up including the average of commissions earned, said in an email he was “extremely grateful” to work at a company with a progressive policy for new parents. “I am very lucky to have enjoyed so much time with my wife and son and to have the privilege of watching my son learn and grow during his first year,” he said.

A phased return to work: Returning to work after a long leave can be difficult, especially as parents adjust to new schedules. There are even courses for women that help them learn time hacks and how to deal with “mom guilt.” A recent report by Moms at Work, a working-mothers network, surveyed 1,090 Canadian women who took maternity leave over the past decade. Nearly all reported receiving no formal support in the transition, and 40 per cent considered quitting in their early days back at the office. 

In an effort to address some of this, some companies offer flexible, graduated return-to-work plans for new parents. Toronto’s Loopio pays new parents their full salary, but only expects them to work two days their first week back, three the second and third weeks and four the next.

Thinkific offers parents who are on leave the opportunity to disconnect entirely or be paired with a work buddy with as much or as little communication as they want.

The payoff: The companies’ #ShowUsYourLeave posts have been widely viewed and shared. There’s also a bump in interest from prospective employees for some of the firms amid a tech-talent crunch.

“Our recruiters at Hootsuite have also received positive responses from their network and potential candidates about how inspiring it is to see a company put their people first,” wrote Dhillon. “The messaging has been the start of conversations with job seekers looking to work somewhere they feel supported.”