string of small and medium-sized enterprises like 99Designs and furniture retailer Brosa are leveraging parental leave policies in a bid to retain and attract talent.  New inclusive policies are being designed for parents regardless of whether they are a birth, adoptive, surrogate or foster parent. Many organisations are also scrapping tenure or eligibility criteria and dropping the distinction between primary and secondary carers. Others will also continue to pay superannuation entitlements while new parents are on paid and unpaid leave.  It’s great to see organisations recognising the importance of putting their people first and offering tangible time for both parents to spend time with their babies. We know from the research that having this formative time with children is critical for their development. For fathers, in particular, this bonding time increases their confidence and decreases gender stereotyping.* Recent surveys by Microsoft and PwC suggest that up to 40 per cent of workers globally are thinking about leaving their jobs in the next 12 months. Paid parental leave is among many of the perks we’re seeing in an attempt to lure people into staying during the ‘Great Resignation’. While it’s a commendable retention strategy and may work in the short-term, ultimately, it’s not enough.   Having a baby is arguably the most complex work and life transition that employees will face during their career life-cycle. It’s a vital time in one’s career where new parents are presented with a shift that forces a reassessment of work and life. While navigating what is ultimately a rocky period for most, many expectant and new parents have defining and critical moments. They will question their ‘new normal’ and make decisions that will have a long-lasting, if not, permanent impact. We know that pre-pandemic, many fathers were not taking advantage of paid parental leave. Even in organisations that offer generous leave packages, many men aren’t taking their full leave entitlements. According to the WGEA, women account for 93.5 per cent of all primary carer’s leave utilised, and men account for 6.5 per cent. Even in 2021, a stigma persists around fathers taking parental leave.   This is where parental leave coaching comes in. Traditionally, employer support throughout this transition has been scarce, yet it is so beneficial. Coaching helps parents-to-be determine the choices they want to make and allows them a safe space to explore their opportunities. Having someone external who is experienced and objective to talk to about the often unspoken challenges of becoming a parent, and subsequently, a working parent is vital to one’s successful return. It’s also vital to one’s retention after parental leave — regardless of how much paid time is offered.  Retaining talented women is critical to business success. Yet, the attrition rate of working women following maternity leave is significantly greater than the average non-maternity-related attrition rate of working women. While exact numbers are difficult to obtain, one large international financial services firm calculated that following maternity leave, the attrition rate of its female employees was 33 per cent.  The maternity leave transition period represents a concrete time when an organisation’s retention of women plummets. To compound the problem, when working women return to work from voluntary time away (for any reason), they often return to a lesser role or diminished capacity with decreased chance of advancement. This significant reduction of female talent comes at a great cost to both organisations and women alike. Parental leave transition coaching programs play a valuable role and should be considered when companies invest in increased paid leave. It’s the missing link to retaining women in the workforce. Unless leaders value and have the tools to communicate parental leave benefits, these new policies may, unfortunately, be akin to having a fruit bowl at reception. Great in theory, but one that remains unused on the company’s intranet.