The Cocoon blog

The founders of Cocoon saw that even stodgy industries, like banking, underwent digital transformations that simplified daily tasks and amplified more impactful work for employees and end-users. They wondered why this transformation hadn’t yet arrived for those managing the complexities of taking a leave of absence, before realizing they needed to be the ones to bring it into the world. 

Though SaaS platforms for planning and managing a leave are new, the idea of turning to tools and technology to automate, save time, and improve employee experiences is not. Companies offering competitive leave policies without the tools to help employees navigate them are losing time, money, and morale unnecessarily. Here’s what a digital transformation can bring to leave management for people and People teams:

Save time and money on payroll and benefits calculations

“It’s nerve-wracking making sure you’re coordinating everything between federal, state, and local laws, getting it right with payroll, and also informing the employee along the way.” — Gem HR leader

“I was in the hospital on the computer filling out the EDD form because you can’t prefill any of this stuff and if you miss the cutoff you don’t get paid...The payroll calcs are very complicated and to this day I don’t know if I was paid what I should have been.” — Square employee

Despite the fact that more than 15 million people took leave in 2022 alone, and that potentially anyone could need to take a leave of absence, it’s still so complicated. All at once, employers and employees have to tackle eligibility, compliance, insurance claims, payroll—on a strict timeline. If anyone slips up (which is easy to do), it can lead to lost pay or breaking the law. Yet even the experts can be error-prone, because there are so many variables to consider, and they vary by state. 

That’s why it makes more sense to let an algorithm comprehend and codify ever-changing leave laws, so nobody has to undertake this expertise in the spare time they don’t have. SaaS tools like Cocoon can also provide more complete and accurate payroll calculations so HR leaders don’t have to. By making the paperwork filing process clear and flagging benefits leave-takers are eligible for that they might have passed over, this not only keeps everyone compliant, but also helps companies save an average of about $10,000 per leave taker. Best of all, as your company grows and changes, tools like Cocoon scale with you so you can continue to offer competitive and well-run leave policies backed by an excellent employee experience in planning it.

Proactively plan a leave before you take it

“One person going on medical leave told me ‘I’m just not going to do the disability, forget it.’ If someone is forgoing that money, then you know there’s a huge problem.” — OODA HR

“I told my boss and my HR partner that my son was in the hospital. They said all the right things… yet a few days later, I got an email from HR letting me know that my paycheck had been paused, and I was apparently now on unpaid leave. This came as a total shock and added extreme stress to my already impossible situation.” — Product marketing leader

Even if your company has great policies for medical, parental, caregiver, and/or compassionate leaves, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. A leave-taker still has to figure out their budget, timeline, and what the steps to achieving them are—all while preparing to face the situation prompting their leave. To do so, leave-takers are often stuck with outdated information on janky .gov pages, calling 1-800 numbers to talk to a leave management rep, waiting for or sending out mailed documents, or simply trying to piece it together themselves in a spreadsheet at 2am. It leaves them feeling burnt out, intimidated, and not confident when they finally convey their leave to HR and their manager. 

This is again where a SaaS platform for leave management is revolutionary, as it is interactive and responds to different inputs and variables in real time with no extra calculations on the end-user’s part. That means employees can use something like Cocoon’s Leave Options Explorer to map out different timelines, see what benefits they qualify for, and how those interact with their state and company policies. SaaS leave management systems also make it much easier to then share these plans with other stakeholders, like managers and HR, so everybody feels confident about what next steps are, how to carry them out, and seeing them all together in one place. Giving employees access to this information puts the power back in their hands to share when they’re ready, and empowers them with the knowledge they need to make such an important decision.

Be the progressive People team you aspire to be

Even when achieved successfully, the way most companies manage employee leave is not up to today’s standards. It costs us time, money, and relationships in moments of life where we need to support and be supported. Infusing leave management with powerful technology and great design will empower people and People teams to make the right decisions quickly in the face of unforeseen scenarios or big life changes—which is a huge life change unto itself — the digital and real-world transformation we are in desperate need of.

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As former SVPs at BabyCenter (a digital parenting resource), Hatch co-founders (and parents) Ann Crady Weiss and Dave Weiss saw firsthand how technology could intersect with and improve family life. This experience, combined with sleepless nights upon starting a family of their own, helped them come up with the idea for the Rest and Rest+ all-in-one sleep machines. Though originally intended for little ones, they quickly expanded the product line, offering better rest for entire families.

That makes it no surprise that Hatch is family-forward inside and out, thanks to the help of Melanie Wagner, the Senior Manager of People Operations at Hatch since 2017, with a major emphasis on employee wellness. As Melanie confronted HR complexities of the pandemic and Hatch’s growth, this prompted the hunt for a leave management software.

Struggling to scale a progressive parental leave policy

“One of our values is ‘whole humans’,” Melanie explained. Hatch has various programs and policies in place to support this value, like their flexible time off policy, employee wellness tools like Somata for therapy and Bright Breaks to assist with establishing wellness habits, and 16 weeks of paid parental and bonding leave (for anyone welcoming a new person in their home). But as Melanie realized, having a progressive parental leave policy was one thing, and managing leaves was another—especially as Hatch grew.

“At Hatch, we really believe in harnessing the power of technology to help families be more efficient."

“At Hatch, we really believe in harnessing the power of technology to help families be more efficient. There are so many urgent things that need parents’ attention, so it makes sense to leave some of the other things up to technology when they can.” This same philosophy drove Melanie to seek out a tech-powered leave management solution, leading her to Cocoon.

Why Hatch chose Cocoon for leave management

Previously, leaves were easier to manage because there were fewer leaves being taken in general, and People Ops was only navigating California’s parental leave policies. But as Hatch grew, they suddenly had employees across 27 states, taking different kinds of leave. “We would have needed one person solely dedicated to leaves just to manage the complexity, and I knew we couldn’t spend that much time on it. But not having an expert opened us up to so much risk,” Melanie stressed. “We had to get involved with Cocoon because leaves are so complicated!”

Knowing they couldn’t be the only ones with this problem, Melanie did some initial research and wasn’t quite impressed as “...we wanted the solution to be easy to use like the other HR platforms we’re working in every day.” After reaching out to her network, she came across Cocoon, which for Melanie and her team, “fit right in with other tools we use and how we operate!” 

“If you get it wrong, it’s so much work unraveling from these things, legally, financially, and on the interpersonal level, so, honestly, we couldn’t live without Cocoon!”

For Melanie, it wasn’t just about intuitive software, but also about the partnership and trusting the information. “For something like leave, you need true partners who are experts and easy to work with. I know that I can rely on what I’m seeing in Cocoon, and so can employees, without spending a lot of time on it.” 

The impacts of implementing Cocoon

“For us, the pricing was reasonable and realistic, so we didn’t have any pushback,” Melanie said. And considering that leave management could have been someone’s full-time job at Hatch, it was a big time and money saver for all—especially on leave administration. “We can be totally hands-off on the admin part, which means we’re proactive about supporting teammates taking leave and focusing our all attention there.” 

Melanie noted that they’ve had a number of people use Cocoon for their leave and it’s been a big hit. “Employees love that there’s automation and interactive forms in the app so they can just plug stuff in and start planning. But they also feel that Cocoon gives the right amount of hand-holding when you need it, and doesn’t just send you to some help article.” Other internal teams at Hatch, like accounting, also rave about Cocoon’s automation and expertise, making Melanie feel like it’s a win across the board.

“If you get it wrong, it’s so much work unraveling from these things, legally, financially, and on the interpersonal level, so, honestly, we couldn’t live without Cocoon!”

During the hiring process and around open enrollment time, conversations about employee benefits are front and center. Yet getting them to utilize those benefits to their full potential is another story. Beyond feeling disappointed when programs your People team diligently researched and implemented are underutilized, the pressure is on as utilization can often be used as a measure of job performance. These tips will help your employees reap the benefits of your benefits packages to improve employee experience, while helping you think more cross-functionally to maximize your impact year-round.

1. Make it easy for employees to find what they need

Employees already contend with dozens of platforms, tools, and logins in their day-to-day. If your benefits are spread out across multiple pages or providers, they’ll forget what they are and how to navigate them—especially as time goes on. 

One way to simplify the employee experience is by choosing a top-performing HR benefits platform (HRIS) whose sole purpose is to condense everything into one, and cover the admin for you. If you don’t go the platform route, create a single page that serves as a springboard. If you create it as a web page, you’ll get valuable metrics around traffic, time on page, and links clicked. If you create it as a doc, use custom tracking links for the URLs to monitor. That way, if you do a comms blast, but still see low sign ups or that nobody is clicking your specific link, that might be a signal to rethink your strategy.

Pro tip: Make sure to promote your benefits platform/page by including it in your bio and HR channels. Create a short link so it’s easy to remember and type.

2. Craft a benefits communication plan like a marketer

The way you communicate your benefits makes a huge difference in how they’re utilized. You can’t rely on an email blast during open enrollment or a long-winded onboarding presentation—like a marketer, you really need to consider who you’re trying to reach and where.

Plan your messaging around things like business moments, seasonal themes, and common employee scenarios (e.g. medical leave). With a constant drumbeat of benefits conversations on different topics, you can hit different messages and audiences at the right time, and have a playbook to iterate on year after year.

When you have your topics, write different versions of the messaging to see what sticks and customize your message by channel. If your company communicates across various platforms like Slack and email, don’t just copy and paste the same thing. Try offering incentives to people who follow through on your call to action. 

Pro tip: If you’re relying on poorly designed resources from a benefits provider, you might consider working with your communications team to rebrand them so it all looks cohesive and offers more context on concepts employees aren’t familiar with.

3. Train managers to be benefits champions

Though People teams do their best to be the connective tissue between employees and the company, it’s often managers that are the avenue to scale empathy—but not if they shrug and say, “hmmm… ask HR” in key conversations.

By giving managers more training on your benefits, how to use them, and when to recommend them, you can empower them and their team members. For example, if a manager has a team member wanting to improve a skill, that might be a good time for them to discuss a coaching benefit. Or if a teammate is expecting a child, having a manager ready to support them through a leave makes a huge difference. But these conversations might not go well, or happen at all if managers aren’t keenly aware of everything they have at their disposal to offer. 

Pro tip: Develop special manager trainings and playbooks—especially for critical moments when employees need a strong support system (like planning a leave). If managers already come equipped with resources and a plan, they won’t drop the ball.

4. Work cross-functionally

Different departments have different access points to employees and skill sets that can complement yours, so learning to collaborate cross-functionally will multiply your efforts and then some.

Some teams you may want to focus on first are Talent Acquisition; Finance; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). With these teams, you can demonstrate a very clear “what's in it for me” with the work you do, and give mutual feedback. Recruiting can tell you what benefits are most competitive to make the best offer letters. The Finance team may have suggestions for how to cut costs or measure results. DEI can make sure your benefits and messaging are inclusive. By plugging in to ERG programming, you can better understand unique populations’ needs, their perceptions of current offerings, and be their resource to connect the dots between issues they care about and how your benefits address them specifically.

Pro tip: If your company doesn’t already have ERGs, start asking around to see if there’s interest and from whom—their mere existence can be a huge benefit unto themselves. If you do have ERGs, make sure you have regular meeting times to strategize with them about upcoming events and member needs.

By now, you can see these tips lead you to lots of cross-functional collaboration and encourage you to think deeply about how you communicate your messages. In the end, your benefits packages are built for everybody, but how you actually reach them all requires a custom thoughtful approach.

5. Go beyond benefit utilization rate to understand success

Utilization rate is an obvious way to measure success, but it definitely shouldn’t be your only metric—especially because specific groups will use certain benefits differently. Having a good mix of quantitative and qualitative data will give you a clearer picture of your impact and with whom.

To get a solid mix of quantitative and qualitative data, our customer champion, Izzy Friedman, loves to conduct regular pulse surveys (in Lattice) to understand employee satisfaction and get their anonymous direct feedback. The platform tracks results over time and allows you to analyze the data across departments, tenure, gender, etc. Even if you don’t choose a feedback platform, conducting these surveys regularly will give you data you can’t get otherwise.

Pro tip: Other quantitative metrics to check out: take-up and dropout rates to see which parts of the funnel are leaky. Financial metrics like HSA balances and retirement plan contributions will speak to averages and program growth. And don’t forget the communication metrics from tip two above!

Whether or not your company has a written caregiver leave policy (we think you should), your employees may be covered by state or federal laws that entitle them to protected, and sometimes paid, time off to care for a loved one. While you’re likely familiar with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), there are also a number of state pay programs and laws regarding caregiver leaves. 

For the most up to date information, check out our new caregiver leave law map.

With teams more distributed than ever before, understanding the time off and pay available to caregivers is an important and complex part of compliance. When you manage caregiver leaves in Cocoon, all the state and federal programs are codified. Our technology automatically determines employee eligibility, saving People teams and employees time and compliance worries. 💡 See exactly how it works with our caregiver leave interactive demo here.

Read on to learn more about the current state caregiver leave laws and programs including time and pay available to employees and which relationships are covered. 

Federal caregiver leave laws

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Parent, spouse, child

State caregiver leave laws

California Family Rights Act (CFRA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: CA Paid Family Leave – 8 weeks with a weekly cap of $1,540

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Colorado Family Care Act (CO FCA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Domestic partner

Connecticut Family & Medical Leave Act (CT FMLA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

District of Columbia Family and Medical Leave Act (DC FMLA)

Time offered: 16 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Hawaii Family Leave Law (HI FLL)

Time offered: 4 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, parent (in loco parentis*), sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Maine Family & Medical Leave Act (ME FMLA)

Time offered: 10 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, parent (in loco parentis*), sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

New Jersey Family Leave Act​ (NJ FMLA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: New Jersey Family Leave Insurance – 12 weeks with a weekly cap of $903

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Oregon Family Leave Act​ (OR FMLA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Rhode Island Parental and Family Medical Leave Act ​(RI PFML)

Time offered: 13 weeks

Pay offered: Rhode Island Temporary Caregiver Insurance Program – 5 weeks with a weekly cap of $1,007

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, child (in loco parentis*)

Vermont Parental and Family Leave Act​ (VT PFLA)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, child (in loco parentis*)

Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave (WI FMLA)

Time offered: 2 weeks

Pay offered: None

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (MA PFML)

Time offered: 16 weeks

Pay offered: 12 weeks with a weekly cap of $1,084.31

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

New York Paid Family Leave (NY PFL)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: PFL benefits will be 67% of the employee’s average weekly wage, which cannot exceed 67% of the NY state average weekly wage

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), parent-in-law, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (WA PFML)

Time offered: 12 weeks

Pay offered: 12 weeks, with a weekly cap of $1,327

Relationships covered: Spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, parent (in loco parentis*), sibling, child (in loco parentis*), grandchild

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*In loco parentis refers to an adult acting in place of a parent.

It starts off like any other day… until you learn your mom’s in the hospital with leukemia, you see bruises on your child’s body that weren’t there the day before, or your husband’s ophthalmologist tells you he’s going to go blind… and suddenly this day will change the rest of your life. That’s exactly what happened to our three brave caregivers who volunteered to share their stories. But given that one in five Americans are caregivers, nearly half of all working adults expressed the need to take a caregiver leave, and most humans need care at some point after being born, it could be any of us.

Despite the overwhelming need, paid caregiver leave is inaccessible for almost 80% of workers, with caregiver leave in general being poorly understood—until you’re suddenly thrown into it. With millions of people leaving the labor market to provide care (and women and Black Americans overrepresented in unpaid caregiving), and untold numbers of caregivers fighting against taboos or struggling in silence at the workplace, employers not only need to come to the table with a competitive policy for caregiving, but also the empathy and expertise to truly support an employee as they go through it. 

That’s what prompted us to ask three bold individuals to share their stories of caregiving. In doing so, we hope to empower more individuals to advocate for what they need and break taboos and for employers and colleagues to deliver on that. By speaking openly and honestly, we can uncover ways to be more supportive of the millions of people in caregiving situations nationwide—because after all, they deserve to get taken care of, too.

Meet the caregivers

Though we can’t represent all types of caregivers in just one blog, our three volunteers responded to a range of emergency situations happening to distinct family members, while navigating an array of responses from their employers.

D returned to his native China to care for his mother after she was suddenly diagnosed with leukemia—all while navigating this during the pandemic on a work visa. Starting off on PTO, his employer eventually managed his caregiver leave with Cocoon. 

H’s son, covered in unexplained deep bruises one weekend, was diagnosed with the rare blood disorder, aplastic anemia, by the next. Despite her team’s unwavering support and flexible vacation policies, HR was unprepared when it came to the topic of caregiver leave.

What started off as back pain for J’s husband eventually spiraled into discovering three herniated discs, fibromyalgia, and macular degeneration causing blindness. Though their very young son and friends were a stellar support team, J’s employer was not, ultimately leading them to quit, finding a new role at Cocoon. 

What led to you becoming a caregiver?

D: In June of 2021, my mom suddenly got diagnosed with leukemia. I had an emotional breakdown, but then a few hours later, I started booking tickets because I knew I would go back to China and give marrow for a transplant. I didn’t know how I would navigate everything with the pandemic and my work visa… I just knew that I would give up everything in the United States and go home because it’s my mom. 

"I didn’t know how I would navigate everything with the pandemic and my work visa… I just knew that I would give up everything in the United States and go home because it’s my mom."
_{- D}

H: Out of nowhere in October of 2017, my husband and I noticed really dark, deep bruises all over my three-year old son that had no apparent cause; and later that night he had a nosebleed. When we took him to the ER, his blood tests showed he basically had no blood cells — an indication of bone marrow failure. After another week in the hospital and a bone marrow biopsy, we finally got the aplastic anemia diagnosis, and we started to talk about a treatment plan. Meanwhile, my son got sicker.

J: I got married in 2019, and after sleeping on my bed for a few months, my husband began to have a lot of back pain. Around the same time, he went in to get his vision checked and found out he had macular degeneration, which causes vision loss. Combined with the back pain, they were worried it could be multiple sclerosis (MS). The tests ruled out MS, but found that he had three herniated discs and fibromyalgia, which runs in his family. It was good to finally get to the bottom of it, but knowing that they’re “forever problems” with no solution meant we would need to drastically restructure our lives.

How did your employers respond to the situation?

D: My company was very supportive and told me I could use PTO, which I did for two months. But because of my work visa requirements, we realized we would have to legally shift it to caregiver leave. I didn’t know any of the policies or how to navigate them, so we looked into Cocoon, which helped me navigate California law and filing the paperwork which couldn’t always be done automatically. Meanwhile, my boss reassured me that I shouldn’t worry, that I would have my job, and to focus on my family.

H: On the first day, I told my boss and my HR partner that my son was in the hospital, but that we didn’t have a diagnosis or know how long he would be there. They said all the right things, and I figured our unlimited PTO policy would give me some flexibility while we figured things out. Yet a few days later, I got an email from HR letting me know that my paycheck had been paused, and I was apparently now on unpaid leave. This came as a total shock and added extreme stress to my already impossible situation. It felt like I had no options, and I was just a cog in the machine. Luckily my team was really supportive, and I eventually figured out a partial leave situation with HR, so I could keep working when my son’s health allowed. But I’ll never forget how hard my company dropped the ball when I needed them the most.

J: I was in a job where I had already expressed that we needed more people to handle the workload, and it was really hard to take time off in general. Every time I needed to tell them about my schedule, I got anxious, and didn't feel supported. They didn't remotely bring up the idea of leave and I had no idea there was a paid state program that I could qualify for. Every day off for appointments was a day that I was losing pay and I really couldn't afford it, but it's what we had to do. The pressure was so high at home and at work, and I resented my job for making it so hard to find any kind of balance, so I burnt out, and eventually I quit in 2021.

What were your days like as a caregiver?

D: Stressful for sure. There’s always something more to do, and the days go by as you just get through it. I needed to take the best care of my mom, but also myself as a marrow donor. Donating stem cells and bone marrow is so painful. There’s a lot of shots to activate the marrow, and it was hard to sleep. I never dream, but I was having nightmares all the time. It was a fight! My mom was fighting hard, and I was too.

H: My husband and I were balancing a lot—we had a 6 month-old baby at the time as well, so every night one of us would be in the hospital with our son, the other home with our daughter. Luckily we also had a nanny and we both found work a healthy and important outlet, so we found a rhythm that worked for us. Some days we were both at the hospital, and there were really hard and painful days of treatments and tests. Other days were more normal—he’s stable and resting, you can (and to a certain extent, need to) do other things. For me, being able to work a little kept me feeling like myself. You’re still a whole person despite the situation you’re in.

"There was a lot of pressure to be everywhere for everyone every day. I had a baby, a partner who couldn’t drive with tons of appointments, and a demanding job that felt incompatible with everything else. Having this kind of caregiving role is lifelong, so at first it was hard to understand where my limits were and what 'healthy' was."
_{- J}

J: There was a lot of pressure to be everywhere for everyone every day. I had a baby, a partner who couldn’t drive with tons of appointments, and a demanding job that felt incompatible with everything else. Having this kind of caregiving role is lifelong, so at first it was hard to understand where my limits were and what “healthy” was. Eventually I started learning how to ask for help and from whom so that way I could balance responsibilities and take time to care for myself, but it continues to be an ever-evolving process.

What did people do during this time that really helped you?

D: I’m so grateful for all the help I received from my company, my boss, and Cocoon. I needed to do a bunch of research, make phone calls, and I was really grateful to my partner at Cocoon for doing certain paperwork and logistics on my behalf, and walking me through everything. I’m also really glad that I could talk to my parents. I was very worried about returning to work, but my mom said my future was too bright for me to drop everything and that I’d done so much.

H: I appreciated when people let me know that they were aware of the situation, that they were there if I needed anything, then more or less treated me like before! Not like flippantly asking if I had a fun weekend (because, no, I did not), but respecting that I’m still capable of my job, that I’m still me. I spent so much of my time being a “cancer mom” that when I was at work, I wanted to be treated like a colleague.

"I appreciated when people let me know that they were aware of the situation, that they were there if I needed anything, then more or less treated me like before...respecting that I’m still capable of my job."
_{- H}

J: When offering support, bring tangible ideas that you’re willing to offer. When someone asks “how can I help?” and I ask for something that’s not convenient for them, they might not do it and it’s disappointing and uncomfortable for everybody. So if you can come to someone and say, “hey I can babysit/pay for something/cook dinner/pick up and drop off for an appointment” even if it’s something small, taking that responsibility off someone’s shoulders is a huge help, so don’t underestimate that. 

How has your experience as a caregiver impacted you in your career?

D: It was one of those things that made me realize there are a lot of good people out in the world that are willing to help and support when something bad happens. So for me it was a chance to revisit my attitude, the way I see the world, and myself. Can I be the silver lining for myself and others the way my parents, employer, and friends were for me?

H: I think I developed a different perspective on what matters in a job. I’d been through two maternity leaves by then, which were already messy and confusing enough, but there was clearly even less of a playbook for caregiver leave. For my next job after my son’s illness, I worked for someone I had worked for previously and had a strong relationship of trust with. I knew I could go to her with anything, and that she would have my back. That trust is a must, especially until companies are more prepared to handle their employees dealing with real life. 

J: After I quit my job, I actually ended up getting a job at Cocoon. I can personally relate to what people go through, empathize with their experience, and make sure that goes into what we’re making. It feels like I’m allowed to show up authentically, which means acknowledging that I’m a caregiver, that I need rest, that I need balance. And it feels like Cocoon wants that to be true not only in their workplace, but in general.

Lead the charge on improving the caregiver leave experience

The circumstances surrounding one’s becoming a caregiver are complex and full of unknowns. But what doesn’t have to be a mystery is how employers prepare for an employee’s caregiver leave, and how they support them along the way. By sharing these stories, we can begin to break the silence around addressing difficult personal situations in a workplace setting and inspire employers to set the foundation for a caregiver to safely stand upon, instead of pushing them further into a hole.

Providing caregiver leave (beyond parental leave) as a benefit is a crucial way to show up with empathy for your employees. Beyond building goodwill, paid caregiver leave is also important for ensuring an equitable workplace. For example, because some state entitlements already include caregiver leave, you may have a California-based employee entitled to paid leave, whereas someone in Wyoming would be ineligible. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employees are covered and able to take caregiver leave, but it isn’t paid.  

In this article, we’ll discuss what caregiver leave is, why your organization should implement a caregiver policy, and how to start writing it. We’ll also look at data from other organizations, states, and countries, which you can use to determine what you should be offering.

Caregiver leave policy generator

With no federal paid leave, the support employees receive during leave is entirely dependent on whether or not their state has any paid leave programs. If you don't have a paid caregiver leave policy already, use our interactive tool to draft one in minutes. Made in partnership with our Founding Legal Counsel, just plug in your details and we'll create a first draft of policy language for you to use.

What is caregiver leave? 

Caregiver leave grants employees time away from work to care for the serious medical needs of a loved one. While you’re probably familiar with FMLA policy and compliance, you may not be aware that it covers parental, medical, and caregiver leave. Caregiver leave is separate from parental leave (maternity leave, in particular, is a more prevalent and better understood workplace benefit than caregiver leave, according to the Congressional Research Service). This means that whether or not you have a written caregiver leave policy, employees may still be entitled to protected time off.

FMLA policy explicitly covers care for a domestic partner, spouse, child, or parent. However, in some state’s policies, like California, parents-in-law or grandchildren are also covered. It’s important to consider who’s included in differing state policies when writing your caregiver leave policy to ensure employees have equitable access to leave. 

How to write a caregiver leave policy 

While paid caregiver leave policies lag behind parental leave and medical leave in popularity, progressive employers often want to provide more support than what any given state may offer. A written policy ensures equitable access to caregiver leave for all employees.

What to ask and answer when creating your caregiver leave policy:

• Who is it for? This includes both employee tenure requirements as well as which relationships you will deem eligible for caregiver leave. We recommend broadening the scope of FMLA-covered relationships to also include: grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, siblings, domestic partners, and designated persons. to include and other close relationships.
• What will the duration of leave be? Our paid leave benchmark report showed most caregiving leave policies for venture-backed tech companies range from 2-12 weeks—though data from across the US shows a much wider range from two days to three years
• What percentage of an employee’s pay will you cover and for what duration? Consider FMLA eligibility and whether you’ll offer full or partial pay and for what duration of the total leave time. 
• What US state policies impact your employees? How are remote employees or dispersed teams impacted differently? Try out our state leave laws map to get a general idea of different laws across the nation. 

Our recommendation for creating equitable leave policies is to offer the same amount of time and pay for bonding, medical, and caregiver leave (e.g. 12 weeks each). Not everyone in your workforce will necessarily become a parent, but potentially anyone could become a caregiver or need to take a medical leave.

How caregiver leave works in Cocoon

Once you’ve answered the questions above and are ready to create your policy, you can easily input your preferences into our caregiver leave policy generator to get the basis for a first draft. After you’ve onboarded with Cocoon, you can turn on the caregiver leave feature so any caregiver leave-takers can see the time and pay available to them. You can also play around with our leave options explorer to see how different pay rules and time ranges can affect employees by locale. 💡 See exactly how it works with our caregiver leave interactive demo here.

Benchmarking caregiver leave across countries and corporations

As of March 2024, Cocoon's paid leave benchmark report showed 20% of surveyed employers have a paid caregiver policy in place. Of these companies, the majority offer 4 weeks of paid caregiver leave. A promising trend is the increase in paid caregiver leave policies—the percentage of companies offering paid caregiver leave increased 9% compared with the amount in our March 2023 report! Read more in the full benchmark report.

Final thoughts

Currently in the United States, federal law does not require paid leave of any type, leaving the responsibility to states and corporations. Equitable and accessible paid caregiver leave is one of the crucial benefits that will be offered by an increasing number of modern, progressive companies—not just because it’s “the right thing to do” but because, as Ellen Meza explained in our roundtable, “this isn’t just a line item, it’s a benefit that will produce value—in dollars—for the company.” That’s why we want to offer all the resources we can towards your caregiver leave—from helping you start drafting the policy, offering benchmarking data, and monitoring your compliance and eligibility within Cocoon.

Taking a caregiver leave can be an unexpected and emotionally challenging experience for employees. Rightfully so, their top priority is caring for their loved one, not trying to understand complicated federal, state, and company programs (e.g. how much time and pay will they get, if any? Which relationships are considered covered?). At Cocoon, we’re committed to taking the work and ambiguity out of caregiver leave—making it easy for companies to support their employees in some of their most difficult moments.

“I’m so grateful for all the help I received from my company, my boss, and Cocoon. I needed to do a bunch of research, make phone calls, and I was really grateful to my partner at Cocoon for doing certain paperwork and logistics on my behalf, and walking me through everything.”
_{- D took a caregiver leave to donate bone marrow and care for his mother. Read more of D’s story.}

Easily navigate the complexity of caregiver leave in Cocoon

A simple planning flow determines an employee’s eligibility and shows them how much time and pay is available based on state and federal laws, tenure, and your company policy. Employees don’t need to wade through complex state programs to guess what they are eligible for—Cocoon shows them their options right away. Then, employees can plan their leave in just minutes, fully understanding the time off and pay they’re eligible to receive. Cocoon guides them through the next steps of filing claims, planning for leave, and tracking their pay. 

With Cocoon, employees get the easy, empathetic caregiver leave experience they deserve:

• Plan in private. Caregiving can be even more sensitive than parental or medical leave and the decision making process is different. Employees can understand their options in private while figuring out the complexities of caring for a loved one. 
• Easily understand time and pay. Many employees who may be aware of parental or medical leave options, have no idea they may be entitled to protected time off or pay for their state or employer. Now, they can explore their options for a caregiver leave in one place.‍
• Automated compliance for distributed teams. Cocoon codifies all federal and state leave laws in addition to your company policy. Our technology determines employee eligibility and generates compliance notices automatically, removing the risk of human error.

Why you need a caregiver leave policy

Taking leave can be incredibly difficult, especially when it’s unexpected (as many caregiver leaves are). When faced with a new reality and a number of added responsibilities to their day-to-day lives, caregivers can suffer negative health impacts as well. With an estimated 53 million caregivers in the US today, it’s likely that more employees than you realize are at risk for increased depression or negatively impacted physical health and well-being. Employers have the opportunity to step up and support the caregivers in their community by using Cocoon, implementing a paid leave policy, and allowing employees the time and space needed to care for their loved ones.

Resources to better understand caregiver leave

We know that getting started offering a new type of leave can be daunting. We’ve assembled a suite of free resources for all employers to start offering caregiver leave, and better support their employees:

• Virtual event: Caring for caregivers - Learn from experts at the National Partnership for Women and Families, DocuSign, CultureAmp, and more how you can identify and support the caregivers in your employee population
• Why your company needs a caregiver leave policy - Get the data and actionable recommendations you need to start advocating for a caregiver leave policy
• Free caregiver leave policy generator - Use our tool to generate policy language that you can take to your executive and legal teams
• State caregiver leave laws - Keeping track of changing laws is hard. Our regularly updated database of caregiver leave laws makes it easy.‍
• How three caregivers handled family crises and careers - Dive deeper into the unique and varied stories of real caregivers

For employees on leave there’s a never ending list to manage all the moving parts—communicating with their manager and HR team, understanding their eligibility for different benefits, following up on submitted claims, and keeping tabs on pay coming from multiple sources, just to name a few. Cocoon’s leave management system makes it easy for employees and People teams to plan and manage leave by taking the guesswork out of pay while on leave

While employees are on leave—particularly FMLA, parental, or medical leave—their pay is more complicated than a typical paycheck. Depending on their company’s policy, benefits, and where an employee lives, it’s common to see income from several different sources (e.g. employer top up, disability insurance, and a state program) on an irregular schedule. 

“While I was on leave with a new baby the joke was, “Choose two: eat, sleep, or shower,” and I was instead building spreadsheets to show what I was owed.”
_{‍ - New parent before using Cocoon‍}

Employees take leave during some of life’s most pivotal moments, like welcoming a child or addressing a serious medical condition. Tracking multiple pay sources and making sure everything adds up distracts from the reason they took time away in the first place. When employers provide stability during these vulnerable periods, they have the opportunity to strengthen their relationship with team members and retain them for the long term.

Track all payments while on leave with confidence

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Now, every employee managing leave in Cocoon can view their Pay Tracker in the Cocoon Dashboard. An easy-to-read graph shows when they were paid, how much, and from which sources. The interactive module helps employees dive deeper into their pay sources and understand what they’re receiving and why pay amounts may differ each pay period. 

Once an employee is out on leave, payments appear in the Pay Tracker with the first pay period of the leave. Any pay from disability insurance and applicable state programs appears when an employee self-reports the payment in Cocoon.

The Pay Tracker adds to our suite of planning and pay features that make Cocoon the easiest place for employees to plan and manage their leave pay. The Leave Planning Timeline shows employees a breakdown of how pay works when they’re preparing for a leave of absence. Our pay education videos provide in-depth explanations about how pay works and what employees can expect while on leave. And now, the new Pay Tracker helps employees manage and understand their pay while on leave.

Why accurate leave pay tracking matters

Pay can be a huge stressor for any employee taking a leave. And uncertainty around it is one of the biggest reasons team members quit before or shortly after they return to work. Employees rely on their company for financial stability. That’s even more true when life takes an unexpected (and potentially costly) turn like a NICU stay or an emergency surgery.

Employee leave is an opportunity for values-driven companies to show up for their people when they need it most. By offering a transparent view into leave pay, you can increase trust, reduce confusion, and free up your People team’s time. As you think about how to support employees before, during, and after leave, make pay clarity a priority.

A rapidly growing workforce requesting more parental leaves breaks down Benchling’s process

With headcount doubling in one year and a company initiative to switch from Benchling’s professional employer organization (PEO) to its own systems, Kari Gould, HR Operations Specialist, and her team had their work cut out for them. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Benchling’s systems to support its rapid growth, and in addition, Kari shares, “our employee demographics were changing. We went from a younger average age with fewer parental leaves to a slightly older employee population with a much higher volume of leaves.” 

Given that Benchling’s then process for requesting and managing leaves was “a lot of work, a lot of time, and not very smooth,” Kari knew it would only further break down as they grew. Though she also counted on one HRBP, a global controller, and an HR consultant as part of her “pre-leave team,” Kari says, “employees still didn’t have a good sense of who to go to, where to get the information, what type of pay to expect, how long they could go on leave, or what they really needed to do to kickstart the process,” she said. “And it’s not something you can just lay out perfectly in the employee handbook.” 

Cocoon offers the promise of a smoother, easier process to manage leave

As Kari was searching for leave solutions, Vivek Reddy joined the Benchling team as Senior People Operations Manager. In addition to a system that made leave easier for both employees and the People team, Kari and Vivek wanted to find a solution that was employee-centered and future-proofed. 

Vivek explained, “One of the things that caught our eye in terms of Cocoon’s approach was their software that enabled a smoother process for leaves. We didn’t want to sacrifice employee experience.”

Staying on top of ever-changing HR trends and legal shifts in parental leave

“Using Cocoon has been one of the best decisions we’ve made in terms of enabling Benchling to be the most employee-forward and progressive organization that we possibly can be,” Vivek said. “When employees go on leave it is one of the most personal times for them and ensuring that they have an excellent experience is immensely helpful for us in terms of building credibility and trust, and ensuring that our employees feel as if they can do their best work and they can bring their whole self [to work].”

It doesn’t hurt that Cocoon has made life easier for Kari’s team, too. That process with four people and employees not knowing where to go? Now, Kari said, “All I have to do is direct the person to the Cocoon platform and I know that they are in good hands.” 

In addition to making the leave process simple for both Benchling’s People team and employees, Cocoon stays on top of changes to federal and state laws affecting leave so Kari and Vivek don’t have to. 

Vivek said, “Cocoon has really helped us in terms of understanding how we can design more progressive policies and benefits while making sure that we’re staying competitive with the market.”

Ready to improve and implement your parental leave policy?

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About Benchling

Benchling began over a decade ago in an academic lab, when its founders realized that the technology needed to support the complexity and pace of science wasn't available—so they created their own. Today, Benchling serves the world’s biotech leaders and innovators, big and small. Its team wakes up every day focused on helping its global customers unlock the power of biotechnology faster, whether they're developing new medicines, crops, foods, or materials. The biotech revolution is happening today and Benchling powers the possibilities of tomorrow.

There are constant, stark reminders that the world around us is in crisis. How this impacts each and every person is different, making it hard for someone to get the support they need, much less from their employer — but that doesn’t mean we have nothing at our disposal to help.

That’s why we implemented a comprehensive, paid compassionate leave policy at Cocoon, to support employees through some of life’s most challenging and vulnerable moments that might otherwise go unaccounted for. To help other organizations that feel compelled to do more, we’re also sharing our policy language below (vetted by our compliance lawyers) so you can get started.

What is compassionate leave?

"Compassionate leave gives employees the flexibility and privacy to determine their own priorities, rather than a rigid policy dictating which periods of life are 'important enough' to warrant time away from work."

Since the early days of Cocoon, a set of operating principles have guided our culture. While we already offer fully-paid parental, medical, and caregiver leaves, we know so many of employees’ most important priorities, friends and family members, and big life moments fall beyond the protections of these more typical leave types and what the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) legally covers. Compassionate leave gives employees the flexibility and privacy to determine their own priorities, rather than a rigid policy dictating which periods of life are “important enough” to warrant time away from work. Compassionate leave could be used for bereavement, pregnancy loss, legal proceedings, caring for a relation not covered by FMLA. While some organizations offer one to three days, our policy covers four weeks.

Our compassionate leave policy philosophy

1. Paid, protected time is critical in vulnerable moments 

The most life-changing periods of a person’s life can make or break their experience at work. The data is clear that generous, accessible parental leave policies improve retention and help attract new talent—we want to see those same benefits for people going through equally life-changing moments who may not get the same support. 

In today’s productivity-driven culture, the typical employee is expected to manage work, family obligations, their own health, and whatever curveballs life throws at them with consistent output and a smile. But what happens when their capacity is overloaded? For many, the answer is to leave the workforce entirely (something that especially impacts women and BIPOC employees), burn out in their personal and professional life, or find work that could allow them this space. We think of leave (of all types) as a tool to help employees reset their capacity and return to work when that capacity is feeling more manageable, instead of abandoning them in their moment of need. 

2. We trust our people and respect their right to privacy 

As part of our policy, no employee is obligated to share the reason for their compassionate leave. We believe each individual is the expert in their own wellbeing. It is not up to us as company leaders (or an HR team, or a manager) to judge the “severity” of another person’s situation and whether or not they may need time away. 

Our team culture trusts employees to use their own discretion when they need to use the policy. We also know that fear of judgment and the administrative burden of providing evidence of need has historically prevented employees from fully taking advantage of otherwise generous policies (pregnancy loss or mental health leave policies, for instance).

3. All employees deserve compassion 

Regardless of tenure, all full- and part-time employees are eligible for compassionate leave at Cocoon, because life doesn’t wait for you to accrue time off. This is true of all of our leave policies. While the majority of our team members live in California, we do have several remote employees across the United States. Rapidly changing state laws mean that our employees are not necessarily guaranteed safe, equitable medical care. The health and safety of our team and their families is our greatest priority. That’s why included in our compassionate leave policy is additional support for employees seeking appropriate, equitable medical care outside of their home state. This may include abortion care, racially-concordant care, or gender affirming care for our employees or their family.

Our open-source compassionate leave policy

We welcome any company that feels this policy reflects their values to adopt it for their own employees, and for People teams and company leaders to feel empowered to adapt it to best suit their needs. The point is, we want to give you a starting point so you can be prepared to act when your employees need it most. If you implement compassionate leave, we’d love to hear about it!

Compassionate leave policy example text

We believe employees should have access to paid, protected time off for pivotal life events that may fall outside of traditional leave types like parental and medical leaves. We believe it is important to empower our employees to make important life and self-care decisions privately and free from judgment or pressure. This policy explicitly acknowledges that we will interpret and apply our unlimited PTO policy in a manner such that no employee will be required to disclose the reasons for their absence to their colleagues, manager, or company leadership when their absence is for a compassionate leave purpose. The following outlines our vision for how we will implement this important benefit in any instance when employees need it: 

Employee Eligibility: All employees (full- and part-time) are eligible for this benefit regardless of their length of service with Cocoon.

Leave duration: Employees may take up to 4 weeks of paid, job-protected leave in a rolling-12 month period measured backward from the day any leave is sought. We will consider providing additional time if necessary. Leave can be taken intermittently in full-day increments.

Qualifying leave reasons (including, but not limited to):  

• Bereavement following the death of a family member or close community member 
• Pregnancy loss / miscarriage
• Abortion procedures, recovery, and related travel
• Legal proceedings (e.g. custody hearings, legal components of gender affirmation, proceedings concerning incidents of sexual violence or sexual harassment)
• Acute mental health distress (e.g. partial hospitalization or residential treatment programs, hospitalizations, recovery from traumatic personal or social event, manic or depressive episodes)

Requesting compassionate leave: Employees do not need to provide details regarding the reasons for compassionate leave. Employees seeking compassionate leave should simply inform their manager or company leadership that they will be absent for a reason covered by this policy and PTO will be approved with no questions asked about the reasons prompting the leave. We realize employees requesting compassionate leave may have limited ability to predict the need for such leave. With that understanding, we ask employees to simply provide as much notice as they can under the circumstances. We also request that, to the extent possible, employees work with their manager or senior leadership to develop a transition and leave plan appropriate for their anticipated leave period.

Additional benefits: Cocoon strongly encourages employees to obtain appropriate medical care. If employees believe appropriate and/or equitable medical care is not available in their home state, they should contact their manager or company leadership to explore ways Cocoon can assist them in obtaining appropriate care in other locations including San Francisco. Whenever possible under our group health plans, we will permit employees to continue group health plan coverage as if they were actively employed.  

Coordination of Benefits:  When required by law, Cocoon will administer overlapping federal, state, or local paid and unpaid leave benefits concurrently with leave under this policy.  However, given the purpose and goal of this policy, we are committed to doing so in a manner that reduces as much as possible any burden employees might have to complete leave paperwork and/or respond to information requests.