Why Better Parental Leave Matters for the MarTech Industry

By Paul Fellows On Feb 14, 2019

Working in the Marketing Technology space, we’re fortunate to be surrounded by innovation on a daily basis. Ours is an industry that prides itself on continual progress, on early adoption of new technological advances, and on a relentless pursuit of improved insights and solutions.

No matter the technology that underpins our solutions, there’s one core asset that all successful Marketing Technology firms share: passionate, productive employees. Our companies are defined by our people, and their success is our success. So, shouldn’t we be investing in their success at both the professional and personal level?

At Partnerize, we think it’s time for the MarTech space to extend our future-focused thinking around solutions to encompass the way that we care for the people who drive our companies. That’s why, at the end of 2018, Partnerize rolled out a new industry-leading parental benefits policy. Entitled “Partnerize Parents,” the program dramatically enhances paid leave provisions for new parents and provides increased flexibility for parents to meet family obligations as they balance work and family life.

Among other things, the program features improved paid leave for primary caregivers (regardless of gender or whether supporting a new birth or adoption). We now provide six months’ salary at full pay, an additional six months’ salary at half pay, and the option for a phased return to work over a six-week period. In addition, our policy includes paid leave benefits for non-primary caregivers, a “new arrival” monetary benefit to help out in the first weeks following a new birth or adoption, and built-in family days to help with family-related obligations like ill children, school activities, and acute childcare needs.

The idea for Partnerize Parents arose about five months ago, as our executive and HR teams sat down to discuss new ideas that could help us continue to increase the diversity of our workforce, including attracting more women to our company. Ultimately, we realized that sweeping changes to our parental benefits program would not only attract more women to our company, but also set us apart in all the countries where we operate. Our policy, which extends parental benefits to both men and women, is designed to improve employee retention and productivity, and create the type of supportive work environment in which people can thrive.

At Partnerize, we’re proud to be investing in our workforce, and we hope that others within the MarTech space take the opportunity to lead by example in similar ways. We believe this new program will help attract top talent and retain our valuable employees. But most importantly, we believe that supporting employees’ family lives is the right thing to do.