Millennials Care About Paid Leave, and Arent

Afraid to Take It
BY NAOMI SHAVIN
May 29, 2015

Millenials! The most privileged, pampered, and protected of all the generationseven they
tend to view themselves as entitled. Self-absorption attends perpetual self-celebration, and
this solipsistic worldview has translated into shifting demographics. Millennials are, on
average, marrying and having children later than any generation before them. Alongside
that, theyve been accused of being the least loyal generation in terms of sticking it out with
their rst employers.
So you might expect that family-oriented benets wouldnt factor into Millennials
professional considerations. Why would this generation worry about the work-life balance
for their not-yet-existing families? A recent study highlighted by the Harvard Business
Review noted that while millennials strive for work-life balance, this tends to mean
work-me balance, not work-family balance.
But, other research seems to point in a dierent direction. As a recent survey by Ernst &
Young Global Generations showed, millennials value increased exibility and paid
parental leave more than the Boomers or Generation X. Millennials who are parents were
found to be much more likely to take paid parental leave: 48 percent of millennials
compared to 35 percent of Gen Xers and 24 percent of Boomers. If a company oers
increased exibility and paid parental leave [millennials] are more likely to recommend
that company to others, [more likely to] be a more engaged and happier employee, less

likely to quit, more likely to join the company, and [more likely] to work longer hours.
The study also found that of the three generations, millennials valued on-site or subsidized
childcare most highly, too.
Whats behind this emphasis on family values? The top priority for all generations is family,
according to Amy Glass, a senior facilitator at Brody Professional Development, a company
that providesprofessional research, training, and coaching. Everyone has this idea: family
rst, Glass said. Millennials say, I need to leave at three or four today to get to my son or
daughters soccer game or recital. Older generations will work longer and stay later, y out
on Sundays. It was like, As the breadwinner, my blood, and sweat, and tears, and
commitment to my workIm doing that for my family.' So millennials may express their
commitment to family dierently, but rank it just as highly.
In fact, a 2011 Pew Research Centerstudyfound that when it comes to building a family,
millennials prize being a good parent over having a successful marriage: Fifty-two percent
of millennials say being a good parent is one of the most important things in life. Only 30
percent said the same about a successful marriage. This emphasis on parenthood over
marriage has been increasing; the study noted that in 1997, Forty-two percent of the
members of what is known as Generation X said being a good parent was one of the most
important things in life, while 35 percent said the same about having a successful
marriage.
And while millennials may be privileging parenting over marriage, shared parenting
responsibilities which paid leave helps support is also seen as the best way to ensure a
successful marriage. The Pew study also noted that when asked what kind of marriage
leads to the more satisfying way of life, 72 percent of millennials chose the modern
egalitarian model (in which the husband and wife both have jobs and both take care of the
household and children).
For all generations, however, that egalitarian ideal is still a long way oparticularly when
it comes to paid leave. The Ernst & Young study found that close to 70 percent of women in
the U.S. workforce agreed with the statement, I feel empowered to take all of the parental
leave available to me, while only 60 percent of men agreed. More strikingly, the study
found, On average, women took 4.5 weeks of paid parental leave while men took 2.3.
Jennifer Deal, a senior researcher at the Center for Creative Leadership and author of

Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground, came
across this phenomenon in her research: I heard men saying that even if they get the leave,
they cant take it because of social pressure. For men, making the choice of prioritizing
family over work aects peoples perception of their dedication.
The upside, though, is that in advocating for more generous paid leave policies, and in
taking advantage of those policies, millennials may be the rst generation to have a real
shot at combatting the negative implications of taking paid parental leave. In the Ernst &
Young study, women were 71 percent and men were 61 percent more likely to agree with
the stance we need both women and men to take paid parental leave in order to combat
the stigma associated with taking leave in society. Indeed, Scott Behson, professor of
management at Silberman College of Business, and author of the upcoming The Working
Dads Survival Guide, said, If you have the security to [take paid parental leave], Behson
continued, I think you should do it. That will make it better for everyone else going
forward.

Naomi Shavin is a reporter-researcher at The New Republic.