Abstract
Purpose: Paid parental leave (PPL) policies offer immense opportunity to enhance health equity by providing financial stability to workers and promoting the health of families in the United States. Working in partnership with a local county government, which recently adopted a paid leave policy, we engaged in a qualitative substudy to enhance our understanding of how workers perceived and experienced the policy across levels of the socioecological framework.Methods: Working in partnership with Multnomah County, a large public-sector employer in Portland, OR that recently adopted a PPL policy, we collected qualitative data through focus groups with employees. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically.Results: We conducted seven focus groups with county employees (N=35) in the fall of 2017. Three major themes emerged from the focus group data: intersectional inequities, disparities by department, and uneven benefits.Conclusions: Our findings highlight the inequities of experience with the PPL policy across employees at individual, organization, and environmental levels. These findings offer insight and guidance for entities considering the adoption and implementation of such policies to consider concrete steps to enhance equity of access and experience.
Highlights
Paid parental leave (PPL) policies provide employees with paid time off from work when they add a child to their family through birth, adoption, or foster placement
We provide the in-depth findings from the qualitative portion of this research, which center employee perceptions of and experiences with this newly adopted PPL policy
Our results provide nuanced knowledge on how employees working for a large public employer perceive and experience the implementation of a newly adopted PPL policy
Summary
Paid parental leave (PPL) policies provide employees with paid time off from work when they add a child to their family through birth, adoption, or foster placement. By ensuring that families maintain income during these times of transition, PPL policies can bolster economic stability, minimize financial stress, and facilitate a smooth return to work, for women.[1,2,3] These policies promote health and well-being; PPL has been shown to decrease infant mortality,[4,5,6,7,8] promote breastfeeding,[9] and improve maternal mental health.[10,11,12,13] Despite these demonstrated benefits across the life course, paid leave is not mandated in the United States, the only high-income nation with no such policy. We provide the in-depth findings from the qualitative portion of this research, which center employee perceptions of and experiences with this newly adopted PPL policy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
