Somehow, despite all that has already happened, it is only February 2025. We are one month into a new year, and weeks into a second Trump Administration, with almost non-stop public and private policy changes.
Last year we released our detailed analysis on the national paid parental leave landscape, breaking down possible limitations and efficacy of a national policy, using existing Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs as a guide. Since our initial analysis, there have been a number of state specific updates, but the U.S. is still no closer to implementing a national paid leave policy.
Despite the lags in public policy, employees remain vocal in their demand for private, employer-provided family-friendly policies and programs, continuing to demand and initiate workplace change.
Here are our predictions for employee-led workplace and cultural changes.
Five years post-pandemic and we’ve seen a tremendous shift in how household labor and responsibilities are divided. Or in the perception of this division of labor. In reality, a 2024 study by The Fair Play Policy Institute and the USC Public Exchange and Center for the Changing Family found that mothers are responsible for the planning and execution of all but two household tasks: home maintenance and garbage.
Learn more about their research here: The Fair Play Institute Research
This study highlights what we already know: the mental load is disproportionally carried by women and that men, especially fathers, are not equal contributors to household responsibilities and childrearing. We predict that this trend will continue, with a deceleration of dads’ involvement in the care of their children to pre-pandemic levels.
The cultural tone set by the new administration will likely accelerate this shift as caregiving and parenting becomes gendered and weaponized politically.
For example, we expect to see less emphasis on raising kids to have healthy emotional responses as boys will be encouraged to “suck it up”, an emphasis on women leading childrearing, a focus on men as “protector and provider” and women as nurturer, logistical manager, and coordinator.
As the mental load shifts disproportionately back to women (let’s be honest: did women ever stop shouldering the mental load?), we expect to see an urgent need for company-provided mental and health support services for working parents, largely influenced and requested by employees. 75% of parents reported that they could have used more emotional support than they received at work.
Buck’s 2024 Wellbeing and Voluntary Benefits survey of enterprise level HR leaders found that wellbeing is being prioritized by culture and people teams.
In September 2024 the U.S. Surgeon General issued a public advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents, citing an increase in parental stress. According to the report, one in three parents reports feeling “high stress” and 41% of parents say the stress is so overwhelming that it affects their ability to work and function throughout the day.
“Balancing work commitments and occupational-related stress with family responsibilities can lead to work-family conflict, guilt, and burnout among parents” especially as the average number of working hours continues to increase.
According to the report, mothers are working, on average, 28% more weekly between employment and an increase in household responsibilities.
We predict employees, and especially parents, are going to ask for company support:
Just as employees will seek out companies with generous family-friendly policies, they’ll also flock towards those with hybrid and remote options, particularly for working women and mothers.
Flexible workplace policies have aided working mothers tremendously. The White House reported that 75% of mothers were working, and mothers of young kids between the ages of zero and four have reached an all-time high labor participation rate of 70%. Without lengthy commutes and rigid in-office requirements, working mothers are able to “better balance their career and family” - being both productive workers and caregivers.
The International Workplace Group found that 88% of working women surveyed said “the flexibility of hybrid work [is] an equalizer in the workplace” helping close the gender pay gap. The same survey of over 4,700 remote and hybrid full-time employed women found that a hybrid workplace is “make or break.”
Supporting caregivers and working parents is economically advantageous for employers looking to compete for top talent. Not only does it provide an added brand boost, it's proven to reduce recruitment costs and increase tenure.
As the cost to replace specialty talent in tight markets and industries continues to increase, investing in family-first policies, such as remote and hybrid work, will boost employee loyalty, engagement, and output. When 73% of employees would switch jobs for one with better family benefits, and 70% say that working for a company that supports work/life balance is non-negotiable…. It would be unwise to not re-evaluate your offerings.
With no proposed national paid family leave program or policy, and no indication that this is a priority of the current administration, we predict that there will be no, or limited, meaningful legislative action to support working families and caregivers.
The Trump Administration has emphasized the need to return rights to states, so any legislative action towards paid family leave will be on a state level and not spearheaded by the federal government. Unfortunately, state-led paid parental and family leave has been politicized and only seen success in blue states, with no red states proposing or passing Paid Family Leave legislation.
This policy polarization has created a vacuum and need for privatized solutions to meet public needs.
Parento exists in this space as an affordable solution for companies to meaningfully support their working parents through paid parental leave.
