And that’s a wrap for The Parental Leave Summit! 14 sessions across two content tracks for the first and only one-day summit dedicated to parental leave and working parents. In case you missed it, we’re not gatekeeping the amazing insights and resources shared! You can watch any of the sessions and read on as we summarize all the sessions and introduce the speakers.
While there were two tracks for the summit, depending on interest and focus, these two sessions were available for both tracks based on their relevance and importance.
To kick off the summit, this keynote was an introduction to the first and largest summit dedicated to parental leave, led by Parento’s Founder and CEO, Dirk Doebler, and U.S. Congressman, Jimmy Gomez. Gomez shared his experience as a working parent and why he founded the Congressional Dads Caucus. Family and workplace dynamics continue to change, which is why we need to reimagine working parenthood and come together to make paid leave possible for all working parents and parents-to-be.
Strong families lead to a strong economy - Congressman Jimmy Gomez.
With more companies offering parental leave, it’s also gotten more complicated. Policies vary from company to company, while paid leave can be a mish-mash of programs and PTO coordination that leaves both employees and employers’ heads spinning. To get everyone up to speed on the current landscape for paid leave, there was a short session with Parento’s Director of Leave Administration, Elizabeth Kidd, and Senior Sales Consultant, Emily Sheerer, that included the different terminology and common terms that you hear around parental leave, the differences between Paid Family Leave (PFL) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the existing options for paid parental leave, and how different companies are structuring their policies.
This track was designed for businesses and distributors, focusing on compliance, budgeting and ROI, strategies and best practices to build benefit packages, the role of technology, and research insights.
This session was led by Parento’s Founder and CEO, Dirk Doebler, and focused on how to help leaders convince their company to invest in paid parental leave. Doebler shared the financial and strategic benefits of implementing paid parental leave policies, and what the biggest challenges were for companies. The session examined the return on investment (ROI) of paid parental leave, supported by data on employee retention, productivity, and long-term cost savings. Attendees learned practical strategies for finding and allocating budget resources to support these policies, even in cost-conscious environments, and how to use employee survey data and feedback to build a case for paid parental leave.
There is no more impactful financial benefit than giving parental leave - Dirk Doebler, Parento
This next session featured Courtney Leimkuhler, Founding Partner of Springbank Collective, Mahima Chawla, CEO and Co-Founder of Cocoon, and Gabby Slome, CEO and Co-Founder of Cooper Parenting. In a casual conversation, these tech leaders discussed the role of technology in modernizing and optimizing parental leave programs. The discussion highlighted the potential return on investment (ROI) for companies adopting these technologies, showcasing how they can lead to improved employee satisfaction, reduced administrative burden, and better overall outcomes for both employers and employees.
This session was designed for brokers looking to craft comprehensive and competitive benefit packages that meet the evolving needs of their clients. It featured John Lemiere, Parento’s VP of Sales, Joy Sanders, Employee Benefits Absence & Leave Management Leader and Consultant, and Aleksandra Redeva, Senior Manager of Research at JUST Capital. Attendees learned how to strategically assess client needs, industry trends, and employee demographics to build tailored benefit offerings that attract and retain top talent. The discussion covered best practices and actionable strategies for balancing cost-effectiveness with high-value benefits, like paid parental leave.
This session featured Elizabeth Kidd, Parento’s Director of Leave Administration, and Kayt Kopen, Partner at Husch Blackwell. The discussion highlighted the top red flags to watch for when designing and implementing parental leave policies, bringing in employment law expertise to share key cases and implications involving Title VII and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Attendees walked away with knowledge and tools to safeguard their organizations from risks and ensure their parental leave policies are compliant with both federal and state regulations.
This session explored the key differences between fully insuring and self-funding a paid parental leave program, featuring Dirk Doebler, Founder and CEO of Parento, and Rich Fuerstenberg, Senior Health and Benefits Consultant and Actuary at Mercer. The discussion helped attendees understand the financial implications of each option with real-world examples and case studies to illustrate how organizations have successfully implemented parental leave policies.
This session was all about supporting new parents in the workplace, featuring Tina Lawler-McHugh, Senior Research Associate at the Boston College Center for Work & Family, Ellen Williams, Assistant Director on the EY Americas DEI Center of Excellence, and Amanda Hemm, Parento’s Director of Parent Experience. This session offered insights into the parental leave experiences of new parents - and how workplaces can help both new moms and dads become the equal caregivers that most desire to be. With data from several Center studies of new parents, including working fathers and dual career couples, the speakers shared how leave policies and other key supports like flexible work, coaching, and phased returns can shape a workplace culture that works for families and caregivers of all types.
66% of working parents experience loneliness and isolation - Michelle Yu, Josie
This track was designed for parents and individuals covering the ROI of lactation and breastfeeding programs, advocating for parental leave, maternal mental health and the mental load, personalized coaching, and supporting all families.
This first session was led by Tiarra Hamlett, Parento’s Director of Marketing + Brand, Dr. Wessel van den Berg, Senior Advocacy Officer at Equimundo, and Paul Sullivan, Founder of The Company of Dads. Their conversation highlighted the importance of paternity leave and why it’s important that men take parental leave for their families and greater community. They discussed the stereotypes and workplace misconceptions impacting why men aren’t taking leave, and the corporate, individual, and societal responsibility for improving and normalizing the parental leave experience for men.
Caregiving isn’t gendered, parenthood isn’t gendered - Tiarra Hamlett, Parento
This session featured Andrea Ippolito, CEO and Founder of SimplFed, Amanda Hemm, Parento’s Director of Parent Experience, Kate Roy, Senior Sales Consultant at Parento (previously helping employers expand parental and lactation support at Medela). They discussed why employers and companies need to consider investing in family-friendly policies and programs that support parents, especially lactating and breastfeeding parents at work.
Employers with breastfeeding and lactation support programs have almost double the retention rate amongst mothers - Andrea Ippolito, SimpliFed
This session was designed for working parents to drive workplace policy change, featuring Janel Yessian, Co-Founder of EarlyHR, Lori Mihalich-Levin, CEO and Founder of Mindful Return, and Tiarra Hamlett, Parento’s Director of Marketing + Brand. With the goal to empower working parents and HR leaders to advocate for paid leave, attendees learned how to advocate, what budget is needed, opportunities, and strategies like leveraging EAP and parental support initiatives. With perspective from an HR Leader and Return-to-Work expert, this session provided behind-the-scenes insights into how to advocate and win paid parental leave at work.
Mothers, especially working mothers, need more support especially in the midst of a national parental mental health crisis. This session featured Amanda Hemm, Parento’s Director of Parent Experience, Paige Turner, Part-Time Content Creator and Full-time Working Mom of 4, and Dr. Amy Beacom, Founder of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership. With their collective expertise, they discussed maternal mental health and the “mental load”—the invisible yet significant burden of managing household tasks, childcare, and career responsibilities that largely fall on mothers.
The mental load is all about equity - Paige Turner
Coaching isn’t just a trend; today’s modern workforce needs continuous touchpoints and support across life, professional, and parenting. This session explored how tailored coaching strategies are transforming the way organizations engage their workforce, featuring Dr. Anne Welsh, Psychologist + Executive Coach + Consultant, Sarah Olin, Founder and CEO of LUMO, Michelle Yu, Co-Founder and CEO of Josie, and Abigail Kidd, Content Strategist at Parento. The discussion discussed how personalized coaching enhances employee satisfaction, fosters professional growth, and aligns individual goals with company objectives.
Parental leave is an opportunity for massive cognitive growth - Dr. Anne Welsh
Families are not cookie cutter and neither should family-friendly policies. This session on diverse families and parental leave featured Tahlia dos Santos, Senior Director of HR and DEIB at livingHR, Carolyn Batyske, COO and Co-Founder of Tiny Organics, and Tiarra Hamlett, Parento’s Director of Marketing and Brand. They discussed different family configurations and how workplaces need to account for, and include, policies that support these journeys to parenthood. Inclusive parental leave policies that accommodate various family configurations, including adoption, surrogacy, LGBTQ+ parenthood, and changes in custody situations, are critical.
No matter your path to parenthood, it is valid - Carolyn Batyske, Tiny Organics
There you have it, all the sessions, speakers, and partners for the first and only Parental Leave Summit, but there’s so much more wisdom and insights in the conversations. If you registered, you can watch any of the sessions in the Zoom Library. If you missed it, keep an eye out for all the videos in the resource library. In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about adding paid parental leave to your workplace, schedule a call with our team.
