Picture this: two employees in your organisation are about to become parents.
One is taking maternity leave, while the other is adopting. Will they receive the same level of support during these different paths to parenthood?
If your parental policies revolve solely around maternity leave, the answer is probably no. Parenthood takes many forms, and if your organisation is serious about inclusion, your policies need to reflect that.
It can feel daunting. What if we use the wrong wording? What if we’re so general that we don’t actually support anyone? What’s fair? What’s inclusive? The questions may be coming thick and fast, but the decisions need to be, too.
Broadening your approach doesn’t just support more employees; it creates a workplace where everyone feels valued, no matter how they build their family.
So, what practical steps can you take to create a more inclusive approach to parenthood? Let’s dive in…
1. Review Your Policy Language
Ignoring different paths to parenthood isn’t an option. Look at where your policies reference parental leave – do they include adoption, surrogacy, and equal parental leave?
Maybe you’re at the stage where you also want to explicitly feature kinship and fostering too? One thing is for sure if you’re only referencing maternity leave, you’re ignoring the bigger picture. This doesn’t mean you start ignoring maternity leave either – it can all co-exist.
It’s not just about the big policy documents. One of my clients had fantastic parental leave policies and even offered coaching to new parents. The problem? They called it maternity coaching. A simple but costly oversight that undercut their wider inclusion efforts.
2. Share a Range of Stories
If you’re new around here, you’ll soon learn that I never stop talking about the power of storytelling – because it works.
Sharing real experiences makes policy changes feel human and meaningful. Take a look at the examples you’re promoting internally – do they all centre on maternity leave? If so, it’s time to mix it up. The goal isn’t a box-ticking exercise; it’s about ensuring employees see themselves reflected in the stories you tell.
3. Engage Stakeholders Beyond HR
HR teams (I see you!) often lead the charge on these conversations, but this isn’t just your job. For decades, line managers have defaulted to maternity leave as the parental support conversation. That needs to change.
Engaging managers is key – help them understand and normalise broader conversations around different paths to parenthood. And if you’re sharing resources from HR, make sure they reflect a diverse range of experiences.
Lay a Flexible Foundation
This is a vast topic. We haven’t even touched on fertility, parenthood in the LGBTQIA+ community, miscarriage, or baby loss – yet all of these belong in the conversation. The aim isn’t to overwhelm, but to raise awareness and empower employees to have better, more informed discussions.
It’s impossible to capture every scenario in a policy, and that’s okay. What matters is having policies that set a solid foundation while allowing flexibility to meet people where they are.
If you’d like to hear some experiences of different routes to parenthood there are a few podcast episodes in my archives that would be a good place to start. Conversations on adoption can be found in episodes with Katy and Andy, and there are some practical tips from Jen on navigating fertility in the workplace too.
Listen to Katie – https://power-of-the-parent.com/power-of-the-parent-7-s2-ep7-bonus-katie-parent-navigating-the-workplace/
Listen to Andy – https://power-of-the-parent.com/power-of-the-parent-5-s5-ep5-andy-nichols/
Listen to Jen – https://power-of-the-parent.com/power-of-the-parent-3-s5-ep3-jennifer-elworthy-fertility-and-career-coach/