The Cocoon blog

Being motivated by a desire to help others, inspired by the opportunity to build a great culture, and up to the challenge of helping employees and organizations evolve are some of the special ingredients that make for a great People Ops teammate. While some folks start in HR straight away, others come into it after a life experience that pushes them to want to help others—often in a way they themselves were not. It’s what drove our founders to start Cocoon, and how our leave champion, J, came to her current role as a Benefits Program Manager. J is a powerful example of someone who translated both her positive experiences and struggles in life (and on leave) into concrete solutions, policies, and processes to ensure others would be better supported and equipped to face what the real world and their work life presented. 

Meet J on her search for joy

From a young age, J knew the importance of being there for her family, and that good health wasn’t something to be taken for granted–that’s because J took leave to care for her mother who eventually lost her battle with breast cancer when J was only 23. “When you lose someone that you love so much, it really changes your perspective on life. I started questioning what my purpose was. I realized life was really short and asked myself if I was doing exactly what I wanted to do? Was it bringing me joy?” Upon reflecting, she realized that she wanted to make a bold change, trying her hand at a career in fashion. She stayed in the fast-paced industry for a decade before realizing it was time to switch it up again—this time by starting a family.

“When I got pregnant with my daughter, I remembered that life lesson of how short life was and I knew I didn’t want to miss a single day with her. So I resigned and shifted all that purpose and energy into being a mom and just absolutely loved it.” Adding a son into the mix a few years later, J made each day with her young family count. As her kids grew, J started dabbling in part-time work, once again, asking herself what brought her joy. “I knew I didn’t want to go back to fashion, which was too much travel and intensity,” J says. “I realized, you know, I’m really passionate about helping people. I also really enjoyed the project management side of my work, so that’s when it clicked for me that HR roles worked well with my personal and professional needs.”

She made the full transition back when a part-time role turned into a full-time gig in 2018. Though she had taken on a lot of HR generalist work, she always enjoyed roles focused on leave and benefits most, because they made her feel the impact of her work directly. This eventually led her to become a Benefits Program Manager at a B2C SaaS EdTech company with around 250 employees across the US and Canada. With a team of three, J had a lot on her plate, but it was about to overflow…

From leave admin to leave taker 

In mid-2022, J and her husband were thrown for the loop of their lives as they were both diagnosed with cancer within weeks of each other. Knowing her higher risk for breast cancer, J had always been vigilant about prevention and detection, catching it at an early stage. For her husband, a triathlete unknowingly hosting a growing tumor in his abdomen, however, the diagnosis and treatment were more dire. “I had just enough time to schedule my own surgery, have time to recover, and then get ready to take care of my husband as he underwent his treatment and recovery for what would end up being almost a full year.” 

J ended up taking two leaves: first, a medical leave for her own recovery, then a caregiver leave while her husband underwent treatment. This compounded the complexity, not only having to navigate two types of leave, but doing so while working through her own health problems before turning around to help her husband in his recovery—and with little time to plan and process it all. It didn’t help that her first leave with a different leave administrator went awry. 

“We had one leave rep through our provider to handle everything. They often took too long to respond, or just didn’t respond at all. On top of that, they would send inaccurate manual payroll files, so we wasted a lot of time double-checking and sending files back,” J explains. “I had administered leaves, knew what problems people tended to encounter, so I thought I had a slight upper hand at navigating my own leave. But when you experience it first-hand, it’s even more challenging than you could ever imagine. And it’s downright scary when you don’t know your pay amount or timelines.” The final straw for J came when the leave admin miscommunicated her return date to her manager by eight weeks, causing chaos at work and home. “I just thought, there's no way I could let this happen to anybody else,” J asserts.

Luckily, even before J had taken her first leave, the Benefits team was already in talks about how they could improve the leave experience, cut ties with their outsourced leave provider, and Cocoon was slated as the top option to replace it. “My experience made me even more compassionate for people going on leave, and often not under happy circumstances, and dealing with it all. And now I was in a position to make a difference for them, to ensure nobody else would have to go through what I went through,” J reaffirms.

A sunnier horizon on the road to recovery

Though she didn’t have much time after returning from her medical leave before beginning her caregiver leave, J and her team lined up the pieces enough that she could use Cocoon to plan and manage her caregiver leave. This time around with Cocoon, it felt like night and day compared to the first leave experience. Cocoon gave her the peace of mind she needed about submitting paperwork, pay, and timelines so she could focus on caring for her husband on his long road to recovery.

Unfortunately, her husband’s employer didn’t have Cocoon, and they struggled trying to figure out what to do about disability payments that weren’t coming, until J realized Cocoon could still come to the rescue. “My husband wasn’t receiving disability payments, nobody from the EDD was getting back to us, his HR team wasn’t very helpful, so I started poking around in Cocoon to figure out how to contact the EDD,” J explains. “There was an article that explained the process and even gave tips to get through, like which hours are the best to call. It was incredible.” 

Cocoon gave J such a clear sense of the process, that upon returning to work, she had ideas on how to keep improving the leave process for everyone. “Without the manual processes and overall administrative burden of our previous provider, we could finally work on how our organization could craft more intentional and realistic transition plans to help employees ramp back up after leave. We also started drafting two additional leave policies to complement the parental and disability leave we already had.” 

Without the manual processes and overall administrative burden of our previous provider, we could finally work on how our organization could craft more intentional and realistic transition plans to help employees ramp back up after leave.” 

A leave management experience that keeps getting better

Having now been a Cocoon customer for over two years and managing dozens of leaves in Cocoon, J says the complaints they used to hear from leave-takers about their rep have dried up. “In the People Ops world, when we don’t hear anything from employees, we know that things are going well,” J laughs. “For the Benefits team, we’ve reduced our need to oversee the process by at least 50%, and we don’t keep getting stuck in the middle. We have confidence in Cocoon, and don’t need to spend all that time auditing payroll and trying to get a hold of someone. When we do have questions, we get a timely response that makes sense and offers solutions. And I know first-hand how important that is.”

J also appreciates that the Cocoon experience is always improving and evolving. “In our calls with Mike (J’s Customer Success Manager), he always asks what’s working, what’s not, and to have someone with that kind of attitude is so different. And it isn’t just talk—I constantly see how Cocoon listens and makes improvements. I know Cocoon is keeping an eye on our needs and thinking about the future. This approach fits really well with the ethos of our culture, and is reassuring for the leave industry which desperately needs more of it.” 

With her a clean bill of health for herself and her husband, J also rests assured about how she can play her part in helping others overcome the obstacles they face on a leave, or sidestep them entirely by relying on Cocoon. As someone who has pondered, chased, and redefined her purpose, J knows that “when I can help somebody, I find joy and fulfillment in that. I know that what I’m doing matters to someone else, and also to me… and nothing is more important than that.” We couldn’t agree more, J. 

It’s full steam ahead for Team Cocoon as we wrap up 2024. Before we close our laptops for our company-wide Winter Recharge Week (sidenote: highly recommend this), we’ll be busy at work to release more functionality that helps People teams manage leave a little more smoothly. This month, we’re excited to share what we’ve built along the themes of customization, seamless access across multiple Cocoon accounts, and more.

Customize how your company holidays impact leave time

‘Tis the season for more customization in Cocoon. Our Product Team is definitely on the nice list this year for tackling another top request from our community: including holidays in leave calculations. Cocoon Admins can now easily add their company holidays and shutdowns into Cocoon so we can calculate time balances accordingly if they overlap with an employee’s leave. And, you can customize how you want us to handle pay per employee type for any paid leaves. See how it works below.

Multiple entities, one Admin login

More company entities should not mean more problems. Cocoon Admins at companies with multiple entities can now easily access each entity’s dashboard with a one login with a single click, giving you seamless visibility into the full picture of your company’s leaves. Simply log in with your standard work email and use the nav bar to toggle between them. That’s right—no more time spent logging in and out or using jane+doe+300***@company.com as your email.  

Coming soon: A better experience for People teams who take leave

It can be easy to forget that People leaders need to take leave sometimes, too. Starting next month, any Cocoon Admin who also has an employee account will be able to easily switch back and forth between their employee and Admin Dashboards without ever leaving Cocoon. And did we mention we’re building a dedicated dashboard for managers for visibility into their team’s leaves? Down the road, this ability to easily switch between accounts will also apply to Managers who plan their own leaves in Cocoon. Stay tuned for updates in January!

Small changes, big impact

Some launches are flashier than others, but smaller improvements stack up over time to make a real impact to the overall experience for both People teams and employees. Our team is always hard at work to make incremental changes based on our community’s needs. Here are a few recent small but mighty updates we made:

• Reminders for employees to verify benefits payments:  We know how critical it is to verify that employees are paid correctly. Based on your feedback, we added a task to employees’ “My tasks” Dashboard to use our Benefits Verification Tool. All they need to do is enter dates and amounts from one benefits check and we’ll instantly verify whether the daily rate they received matches the rate in our system. With this update, they can easily *check* that task off the to-do list ;)
• Growing into eligibility based on tenure: Compliance is our bread and butter. As of next month, Cocoon’s system will automatically detect if an employee hits an FMLA tenure requirement during a leave, and will instantly trigger all relevant updates from there: send relevant compliance notices, update employees’ leave timelines, and enable them plan additional leave time based on their new eligibility. A small but mighty win for reliable, tech-powered leave.

Have feedback or thoughts on anything above? Feel free to share them directly with our Product Marketer, Libby Buttenwieser, at product-feedback@cocoon.com. Otherwise, we’ll see you back here in 2025 with a lot more updates to share!

"Paid leave pays off" is more than just clever copywriting and Cocoon’s vision for leave—it’s a conclusion we’ve come to again and again having helped our customers manage over 10,000 leaves, seeing first hand the impact paid leave makes. But we know nobody can speak to that better than employees themselves. That’s why our team partnered up with Parentaly and the Chamber of Mothers to craft a survey to understand the impact of paid leave (or the lack thereof). Paired with the results of our annual benchmark survey, you have access to rich datasets to: see what a competitive policy is, understand the benefits of having one, and make a case to update yours accordingly. We know that compassionate, competitive employers go further and get better results, but now you can see why for yourself!

Key takeaways

Though we encourage you to explore all the findings below, these were the top three that stood out for us:

1. Paid leave is a must-have. 60% of respondents said lack of a competitive paid leave package would be a deal breaker when considering a new job.
2. Paid leave outranks most other benefits. Potential job seekers ranked a competitive paid leave package as their #2 priority (a hair more important than even a competitive salary), with 100% covered health insurance being #1.
3. Paid leave impacts retention. 56% say a poor leave package was a reason they left their job, while 70% say a generous paid leave package would make them stay.

The business case for offering paid leave

Over 1,300 respondents nationwide took our survey (with the vast majority sourced randomly). Across this set of questions, we sought to understand how access to competitive paid leave policies impacts recruiting and retention.

60% say access to paid leave would be a deal-breaker in considering a new job; 56% say a poor leave package was a factor in deciding to leave a job

When it comes to recruiting and retention, not offering paid leave is a dealbreaker. Surprisingly, it’s sometimes doing as much or more heavy lifting than compensation: when we asked respondents to rank the importance of benefits, access to paid leave was ranked #2 overall—just a hair above even a competitive salary! (Number one was 100% paid health insurance.) Nearly half said they would take a pay cut to work with a company with a better paid leave package. 

Based on how unnecessarily confusing and frustrating my first leave was… I would need to forgo my dream of a very-much-wanted second child if I stay at my current company.”

I would like to have a third baby, but will have to look for another job with better leave before we do.” 

70% say a generous paid leave package would make them stay at their current employer

Paid leave can be a huge factor in keeping new parents in the workforce overall, which in turn helps them support their families and grow their careers. It’s also a good deal for employers who can spend up to double a former employee’s salary to replace them. When an employee knows they’re being taken care of in their moment of need, they return the favor by staying on with their supportive employer.

My husband has 18 weeks of paid leave through his employer and will literally never leave.”

I’ve taken paid parental leave twice and it was instrumental to my physical healing and mental capacity to get back to work at full productivity.”

58% say they would take unpaid leave if there was no company policy

Though this may be a favor in point of naysayers (“why pay for it if they’d take it unpaid?”), we think this speaks to the dire necessity of access to paid leave so employees can take the time they need to care for themselves and/or their loved ones in some of life’s most challenging moments. Leave will happen whether you have a policy or not, and we think it’s better to be prepared.

I took paid parental leave and unpaid leave following that where I was pushed out of my role, denied my annual bonus, and opportunities for advancement. That, on top of postpartum anxiety and depression, has had a significant impact on my life.”

Access, understanding, and satisfaction

This set of questions helped us understand what kind of leave respondents do or don’t have access to, and how satisfied with it they are.

Only 43% are satisfied with the process of taking leave

Though 71% of respondents were content with their access to leave, less than half were satisfied with the process of taking it. This could suggest policies might look good on paper, but when an employee goes to plan and manage their leave, the experience takes a turn for the worse. Companies should not only train and educate employees on their policies, but also provide them the tools to effectively take advantage of the policies.

I work at a company with a ‘somewhat generous’ paid leave policy… but HR is perpetually confused at how to apply our policy and state programs, and doesn’t seem to care to learn more to actually help employees. Some of my colleagues have even been given completely incorrect information meant for employees based in other states… I dread the stress involved with navigating our leave policies.”

The gender gap shows up in leave, too

Unsurprisingly, more males have access to paid leave, with 86% saying their employers offer it, while only 59% of females’ do. In general, the higher your wage, the better your access to paid leave. When males aren’t satisfied with the amount of paid leave they’re given, they’re also more likely to leave a job: 68% of males say it has impacted their decision to leave, versus only 42% of females. 

Though 77% of males say they’re very comfortable taking full advantage of their company’s paid leave policy, 50% of them also said they thought doing so would impact their career progression. Women are less comfortable using their company’s leave policy (60%), but only 19% are concerned about the career impact it could have. Given the gender and class dynamics at work when it comes to access and use of paid leave, more work needs to be done to provide equitable access to leave, inside of a culture that promotes taking leave for whomever needs it. 

Best practices for employers

1. Improve your recruitment efforts and employee retention by offering paid leave. Tap our free resources to help you draft parental, medical, caregiver, and compassionate leave policies. Check out our paid leave benchmarking data to help you determine policy length.
2. Make employees feel comfortable to take leave. Educate employees, managers, and People Ops so they can properly navigate your policies. Provide tools like Cocoon that simplify and automate the hardest parts of leave, where friction and problems can arise. Establish the kind of culture that makes anyone feel safe and supported to take a leave, and confident about what will happen when they come back.
3. Provide equitable access to leave. Craft your policies with the needs of any employee in mind–not just people you “think” will take leave, or based on the exact employee population you have today. You also reduce complexity if everybody is offered the same thing, while future-proofing your policies as you grow and expand operations.

The U.S. is the only OECD member country—and one of only six countries in the world—without a national paid parental leave policy. This puts the burden on employers and state governments to figure out an offering, which could explain why 84% of US employers are planning on changing their leave policies in the next two years. That’s why we offer our annual paid leave benchmark report to help you set competitive baselines (and even help you craft policy language with our generators). Increasingly, competitive paid leave policies are table stakes for employee recruitment and retention, making this data more timely than ever.

This year, we offer paid leave policy insights with data from more than 250 companies across more than 12 industries for parental, medical, and caregiver leaves. In this blog, we’ll cover the top highlights, but you can visualize the data on our dashboard, or by downloading the full dataset below.

Tenure benchmarks 

While FMLA-protected leaves have hard and fast tenure requirements (working full-time for a covered employer for 12+ months and logging at least 1,250 hours), our benchmarks show that only 5-10% of companies have tenure requirements for 12+ months, and a majority don’t have tenure requirements at all. If you and another company offer the same amount of paid leave time, but have different tenure requirements, that’s a factor employees consider. Here’s how tenure requirements shake out:

• 52% of companies offering paid parental leave don’t have tenure requirement
• 79% of companies offering paid medical leave don’t have tenure requirement
• 81% of companies offering paid caregiver leave don’t have tenure requirement

💡 Interestingly, the median employee tenure at companies with paid parental leave policies is 20% longer than those without, supporting the idea that paid leave does pay off.

Overall leave policy median benchmarks

Below we share median policy lengths across paid parental, medical, and caregiver leaves, with insights by company size and industry. 

💡 If you don’t yet have a paid parental, medical, and/or caregiver policy, or are looking to update yours, try our free policy generators. 

Parental leave

With only 27% of US private-sector workers overall having access to paid parental leave, and over four million Americans taking an FMLA-protected parental leave each year, the need for paid parental leave is dire. That makes these 2024 metrics reassuring:

• Median birthing parental leave policy: 16 weeks
• Median non-birthing parental leave policy: 12 weeks
• 97% of employers in our data set have a paid parental leave policy (up 2% from 2023).
• Since 2021, parental leave policy lengths for birthing and non-birthing parents have increased nearly 25% across our benchmark data.
• Company size and industry insights:
  • Leading industries for birthing parental leave policies: media, capital markets, engineering/manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals—offering a more generous 18-24 weeks.
  • For non-birthing parental leave policies, the media industry bumps down to an 8 week median, where specialty retail also sits.
  • Smaller companies, with 11-50 employees, also bump down to 14.25 weeks for birthing parental leave policies, while all others held at 16 weeks.

Medical leave

Though parental leave has more coverage, when it comes to those taking an FMLA-protected leave, 55% use it for taking care of their own medical condition. This year, we found that a smaller percentage of employers offered a paid medical leave, which we think is more reflective of adding more companies to the dataset that simply don’t have medical policies versus employers revoking them. 

• Median medical leave policy: 6 weeks
• Since 2022, median medical leave offering is up 76% (up to 6 weeks from 3.4 weeks).
• 46% of employers in our data set have a paid medical leave policy (down 12% from last year).
• Company size and industry insights:
  • Leading industries for longer medical leave policies include: pharmaceuticals, engineering/manufacturing, healthcare services, media, and consumer services, offering anywhere from 7-12 weeks.
  • Mid-sized companies and beyond (250+ employees) see a boost in their median medical leave to 8 weeks.

Caregiver leave

Across the US, the need for caregiver leave is on the rise—with 22% of US adults working full time and providing caregiving (up 21% since 2015). Though this is the least common paid leave policy, it’s also gained traction throughout the years in our benchmark reports.

• Median caregiver policy: 6 weeks 
• 24% of employers surveyed have a paid caregiver leave policy (up 15% from 2023).
• Company size and industry insights:
  • Leading industries for longer caregiver leave policies include: pharmaceuticals and capital markets, offering up to 12 weeks.
  • Companies 11-50 employees offer just a bit more caregiver leave at 8 weeks.
  • While the overall median is 6 weeks, the most generous policies range from 12-16 weeks.

💡Not sure where to start with caregiver leave? Learn why you need a policy, and try our free caregiver leave policy generator. 

The bottom line

Though we’re still working towards our long-term vision where every working person can afford to take the time they need during life’s pivotal moments, we’re reassured by the growth in the number of companies offering paid leaves as well as increases to the lengths of those leaves each year. By offering our benchmarking data, we hope to help companies set competitive, progressive, and equitable baselines for their leave policies. But even beyond that, we are here to raise the standard for how leaves are planned and managed so employers can best support a leave-taker to make the most of the time they need.

Last year when we announced our vision for the future of leave management, we weren’t just talking about the evolution of our platform. We also included our hope that every working person could afford to take leave when they needed it, because that’s the true solution. With Trump entering the White House and a Republican controlled Senate, our hope for national paid leave policy feels further away than ever. The reality is that 44% of US workers don’t even qualify for unpaid FMLA leave, and only 27% of workers nationwide have access to paid family leave (much less other types of leave). A growing number of states have passed paid leave legislation, but the US remains as one of only seven countries in the world with no national paid leave program for parents or otherwise. 

The problem is so dramatic that even US Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, in September issued an Advisory on the mental health and well being of parents, calling for government regulation to “establish a national paid family and medical leave program and ensure all workers have paid sick time,” and for employers to “expand policies and programs that support the well-being of parents and caregivers in the workplace.” We support this vision so everyone can take care of themselves, their families, friends, and community.

After the election results it's easy to feel like we'll be waiting at least another four years before national paid leave becomes a reality. But during the election it was clear that support for families was top of mind for all Americans, and all candidates. Though not a tentpole issue during his campaign, in his prior term, President-Elect Donald Trump signed a defense bill passed by the Senate that expanded paid parental leave for federal employees to 12 weeks. He also doubled the child tax credit amount to $2000–a change he said he would make permanent when in office again. Comments by J.D. Vance in the vice presidential debate in early October also indicated a shift in tone for the Republican party, saying that, “we should have a family care model that makes choice possible.” But it remains to be seen who would have access to which choices. With no meaningful federal action taken since the 1990s’ FMLA, we hope President-Elect Trump will take heed of Surgeon General Murthy’s advisory, and the pleas of millions of Americans.

Being realistic in the meantime, however, we know that political leaders are unlikely to take swift and sweeping action, which is why we’re taking some matters into our own hands to help fund the push for paid leave. Here’s how it works:

To celebrate over 10,000 leaves taken with Cocoon since we launched in 2021, we’re starting with a $10,000 donation. Then, for every leave managed in Cocoon from now through the end of 2025, we’ll add $1 to the donation pot.

Here's how you can get involved:

1. Use Cocoon for leave management and every leave run through Cocoon contributes to the cause. 
2. Donate an amount on behalf of your employer, or make a personal donation here.
3. Share this message with others in your company, industry, and network—the private sector can influence the public sector.

Where are the donations going? We’ve chosen to split them equally between three leading organizations whose visions of equitable and accessible paid leave for all align closely with ours: Moms First, Chamber of Mothers, and Paid Leave for All.

Though it will take time, dedicated efforts, and funding across the public and private sector, we firmly believe we not only have the power, but the obligation, to make progress toward the future of paid leave that we envision. It’s time to actively guide the conversations and shape the decisions that will lead the US to join the global community in providing its citizens the ability to take care of themselves, their families, and loved ones. Join us in the push to do so.

Anyone who has administered a leave (especially without Cocoon) knows how antiquated the system is. This can be even trickier and more time-intensive for intermittent leaves, which can be somewhat unpredictable, but still require consistent tracking. Luckily, Cocoon gives you just the right tools to stay on top of intermittent leave tracking and management. Guided by Staff Product Manager, Alice Luu, we’ll walk you through our approach to intermittent medical and caregiver leaves, why it’s a game-changer, and how we built it with simplicity and visibility in mind.

What is an intermittent leave?

In a nutshell, an intermittent leave is an FMLA leave taken in varying, inconsistent, or sometimes unpredictable blocks of time for a single qualifying reason, often in time increments shorter than a single workday. Or, an employee might work a consistent but reduced schedule. This is in contrast to a continuous leave, where a leave-taker is fully away for the entire length of the leave. For example, if an employee has a medical condition that flares up, they might take intermittent medical leave to receive treatment and flow between working and recovering as their condition fluctuates.

Check out our intermittent leave guide to learn more about what it is, qualifying conditions, tracking requirements, and more.

Why is tracking intermittent leave so hard?

Though it’s tough to perfectly plan and schedule any leave, some medical and caregiver leaves might be more unpredictable than, say, a parental or bonding leave. There will be some things you can plan for (like a scheduled appointment) and some things you cannot (like a sudden wave of debilitating nausea). Because the FMLA allows up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave, diligently tracking intermittent leaves is important so a leave-taker only uses the time they need, and so employers can keep track along with them.

Unfortunately, many intermittent leaves are tracked and reviewed manually, making them prone to errors, extra work, and delays. Inconsistencies in tracking also means pay calculations and compliance can get off-track, too—which are typically the hardest problems to resolve. Even if a third-party provider is managing your leaves, that doesn’t quite solve the issue, because then it puts the reasons for leave, approvals, and schedules into a black box. That often leaves People teams, managers, and employees in the dark about what’s going on and how decisions were made. This can be disruptive for business overall, but especially for team and work cohesion.

But where there are tough problems, there are big opportunities—which is why we think employers and employees alike will benefit from our approach to intermittent leave tracking.

How does intermittent leave tracking work in Cocoon?

Across many conversations with key partners, customer champions, and our Legal Team, it was clear we could simplify the way intermittent leave gets tracked and communicated, with more compliance guardrails, while putting admins in the driver's seat for clearer and better decision-making. In Cocoon, this means:

• Leave-takers can enter their time away down to one-minute intervals whenever it’s convenient for them.
• Cocoon sends prompt reminders for time reporting to the leave-taker so managers and People Teams don’t have to.
• Admins can easily review each leave request and corresponding medical documents to make informed decisions (see how it works here).
• Cocoon automatically approves absences that are reported in connection with an approved leave to avoid approval bottlenecks.
• As time gets reported, pay tracking updates automatically in Cocoon for accurate calculations.
• Cocoon reconciles time away with what was projected to flag any potential issues so employers can address changed circumstances with employees.
• Cocoon is a one-stop-shop for tracking FMLA balances and managing intermittent leaves alongside all others.

Let’s see it as an example

1. Denise is taking intermittent FMLA medical leave. 
2. Her doctor has estimated that she will be away from work for a full week, then about three times a week for two hours at a time for the next month. 
3. For scheduled appointments, or when taking time away for recovery, Denise reports leave time taken after the fact when it’s convenient for her. 
4. She forgets to enter her times twice in the pay period, but Cocoon notifies her so she can submit it in time to not impact her next paycheck.
5. After two weeks, it’s looking more like Denise is taking three hours at a time so Cocoon flags this for her and an HR admin to discuss. 
6. She gets an updated doctor’s note and devises a new schedule that works better for her and the team.
7. After 35 days, Denise returns to work. 
8. Though she needed a little more time than what was originally projected, because of the proactive steps and accurate time tracking in the meantime, everybody was on the same page.

Why Cocoon’s approach to intermittent leave tracking is an evolution (and will continue to evolve)

A layer deeper than mere product functionality is our unique approach to automating intermittent leave management, while still giving employers visibility for better decision-making. When done in-house without the right tools, People Teams and managers get bogged down in manual work reviewing spreadsheets or nudging employees to submit them. Yet completely outsourcing leave management to a third-party creates a black box around why someone was, is, or will be away or back at work and why. With Cocoon automating things like entitlements, pay tracking, and sending reminders, employers have all the information at their fingertips to make decisions appropriate for the situation to ultimately support leave-takers and their teams—without the taking on more tedious tasks. 

In the short term, we plan to add capabilities to simplify tracking for future and recurring appointments and help admins request additional medical documents—so be on the lookout for them soon! In the long term, we plan to guide employers to be consistent in how they make decisions and have a history of decisions that lives in Cocoon. With improved and more automated intermittent leave tracking, leave-takers can track their time and know where they stand, all in a few clicks. People Teams can better manage intermittent leaves with the information they need to stay equipped and supportive when things don’t go according to plan or they’re in a new situation—ultimately giving everyone the peace of mind they need.

Whether you manage leaves of absence internally or outsource them; use spreadsheets, third-party reps, or software—the most important thing is that you have some sort of system in place that works for People Ops and leave-takers. We think the best approach automates the tough stuff—like pay calculations and ever-changing leave laws—while still giving People teams and leave-takers visibility and control (which we know is biased, because this is Cocoon’s approach). However, we know that not every team and company might be ready to bring in a software solution, and that’s okay. That’s why we’ve created a dynamic leave tracking spreadsheet template for you, along with some of our best free tools and guides to ensure that no matter how you manage leaves, you’re doing the best you can.

Pros and cons to managing leave internally

There are various approaches to administering a leave. Some teams choose to outsource it completely to a third-party provider, which means all decisions and paperwork generally stay between an employee and their assigned rep. Other teams work with leave management solution partners like Cocoon that provide software, tools, and automation to simplify and streamline so employers can focus on their employees. Others choose to manage it in-house, with a designated “expert” or multiple teammates handling the different parts of leave. 

Managing leave internally is often seen as a cost savings measure—especially for smaller companies that might not have many leaves to manage. Doing things in-house without support can also be easier if your company doesn’t operate in multiple states (or states with mandatory leave laws) which cuts down on compliance complexity. It also gives People Ops teams the opportunity to tailor their approach, ensuring they can control the process for an employee experience that aligns with their company culture. 

Regardless of whether you insource or outsource, there are still many responsibilities employers need to stay on top of and the perceived cost-savings of managing it in-house can go out the window as People teams try to:

• Understand and keep up with changing state leave laws and federal/FMLA regulations.
• Track time and leave entitlements accurately to calculate pay properly.
• Effectively support employees before, during, and after a leave.
• Manage different leave types and concurrent leaves, and reconcile them with various laws and internal policies.

Best practices for managing leave internally

Though the challenges above can be tough, People Ops teams can implement these best practices to meet challenges head-on and be proactive:

Periodic actions to take

1. Review and update your policies at regular intervals. What worked two years ago might not work now.
2. Set a regular communication cadence to keep employees in the know about any updates, general reminders of what your policies are, and what’s available to them.
3. Conduct periodic audits of leave data to understand how employees are using your leave benefits (or not) and to benchmark yourself against others in your industry.
4. Take time to catch up on legal changes that have happened or that might be in the works.

Have an established process

1. Establish clear leave policies that stand up to legal reviews and are competitive with companies similar to yours. 
2. Set up a tracking system so you can manage and monitor upcoming leaves, as well as those in progress.
3. Train HR teammates and managers on your policies, and how to appropriately communicate with and support leave-takers.
4. Provide a clear process for requesting and approving leave. (Check out our free leave planning tool to get an idea of the information you’ll need to ask an employee.)
5. Ensure you are staying compliant, with the correct documentation throughout the process with a detailed checklist.

While it’s easy to write this list, it’s much harder to carry it out effectively—but that’s why Cocoon was founded in the first place, and why we like to give employers and employees as many tools as they can to plan and manage leave to the best of their abilities. Many of them are linked above (and on one page here), while below you can get a more in-depth explanation of how to use the tracking template.

Simplify leave tracking with our template

Here’s how in-house teams can better track leaves with our dynamic and customizable tool:

1. Make a copy of the Google Sheet.
2. Head to the Company leave policies tab and fill out the information based on what your company offers.
3. For each new leave, head to the Master tracking sheet and fill out:some text
   1. Employee name
   2. Leave type
   3. Leave leg start and end dates
   4. FMLA eligibility
4. We’ll reconcile that with the info you provided in step two to calculate the rest for you.
5. To see all planned, current, and upcoming leaves in a sleeker timeline view, head to the Employee leave summary view.

A caveat here is that this tracker is only one step of the process. For example, it won’t calculate pay for you. The full Cocoon experience goes beyond basic calculations to automate the most complex parts of a leave like compliance, payroll, claims, reporting, and more.

Signs you may need more than a home-grown solution

If things are going swimmingly between your own processes and our free dynamic planning and tracking tools, excellent. But there are a few indicators that might mean you should start the search for a more robust leave management solution sooner rather than later:

• You have missed compliance notices or had a compliance violation.
• Leave-takers consistently don’t file claims on time, or at all.
• You’re unsure if your company is taking advantage of state and private benefits.
• Your company is growing quickly or expanding operations in other states.
• You see higher turnover or tension with leave-takers.
• Your team spends too much time administering each leave at the cost of other objectives.
• Your team struggles with pay coordination across all benefits, causing issues with leave-takers and Finance.

The future of better leave management is now

Though there are stellar People Ops teams who are proactive, knowledgeable, and supportive when it comes to managing leaves, there are many more who are struggling to simply get through it. For some teams, our free tools will be a huge step up, but our larger vision is to evolve how technology is leveraged to automate, calculate, and plan the most complex parts of leave—which go far beyond mere spreadsheets. Ultimately, that’s what will give leave-takers the peace of mind they need to put their focus on the reason for their leave, while giving employers the opportunity to better support them with less effort and risk. So whether you’re just handling your first leave or are looking to really scale up and shape up your approach, Cocoon is excited to be your dedicated partner. 

Q4 is in full swing, and Team Cocoon is busy building new functionality to take even more off your team’s plate. Keep reading to learn more about how you can leverage two top-requested features, email visibility and employee SSO, as well as several smaller but impactful updates. Because managing leave should not be the spookiest thing you encounter this October.

Full context in a couple clicks: introducing email visibility in Cocoon

You can now see all notices and emails we send to each employee right in your Cocoon Dashboard. Your Leave Log will include the details (time stamp, attachments, subject line, anyone cc’d) and full text of any compliance notice or email employees receive throughout their leave. We already took this communication work off your plate, and now we’re showing our work to make sure you’re always in the loop. This level of real-time visibility is one of the many benefits of a tech-powered leave solution, and we’re excited to see this top-requested feature out in the wild. Check out the experience below.

SO long email and password, welcome SSO for employees

Why should Admins have all the fun? Our new SSO login option for employees gives your team an even more seamless experience the moment they interact with Cocoon. This new functionality also means employees don’t need a work email to use Cocoon—critical to expanding access to employees a wider range of job functions. Our SSO feature leverages OpenID Connect (OIDC), a secure protocol that verifies user identities, and works for most companies regardless of SSO provider.

Small wins, big impact

Some launches are flashier than others, but smaller improvements stack up over time to make a real impact to the overall experience for both People teams and employees. Our team is always hard at work to make incremental changes based on our community’s needs. Here are a few recent small but mighty updates that are now live:

Dayforce HRIS integration: Dayforce users can instantly sync their census data with Cocoon and leave manual uploads behind. Implementation takes about 15 minutes—get started on your Settings page.
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Contact screen updates: Based on feedback, we updated the “Contact us” design to make it crystal clear to employees how to get the support they need at any time. Check it out below, and remember that employees can always request a call if they’d prefer to speak with one of our CLMS-certified leave specialists.

Guidance for CA EDD Certification for Continued Benefits: Things with the EDD aren’t always super straightforward, so we’re stepping in to help employees in California who may need to complete a Certification for Continued Benefits form. If applicable, CA employees will now see a specific task in their Dashboard, along with detailed Help Center articles on how to complete the required forms to ensure they get their benefits without hassle or delay.

Stay tuned: big things are coming to expand leave access to employees who need it 

First up: we’re hard at work on building a brand new experience for intermittent medical and caregiver leaves in Cocoon. This functionality will help expand access to critically-needed leave time for many employees, all while making a complex process less confusing, less time consuming, and less prone to human error.  Keep your eyes peeled for a launch announcement in the coming weeks.

And last but in no way least….support for hourly employees is coming! Our mission to empower every working person to take care of what matters most is certainly not limited to those with standard Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm schedules. Our team is busy building to expand Cocoon’s product support to those with fixed (i.e. doesn’t change week over week) hourly schedules by the end of the year. Building the future of leave is a long road, and we’re excited to approach this milestone of expanding access to a reliable, seamless leave experience for this employee population.

We’ve said it once (or many times) and will say it again: here at Cocoon, we’re committed to keeping you fully in the loop along the journey toward transforming leave. Have feedback or thoughts on anything above? Feel free to share them directly with our Product Marketer, Libby Buttenwieser, at product-feedback@cocoon.com.

Anyone who’s ever managed leave knows that people take leave in many different ways—and it’s often not in a single, continuous period. This is known as intermittent leave, a type of leave employers struggle to administer because of the complexity and special FMLA rules that apply. Navigating complexity is our middle name, so we’ve put together this guide to help you understand those rules and feel more empowered to manage these important leave cases.

💡Pro tip: Get guidance on employee eligibility rules and what types of conditions apply for FMLA with our FMLA compliance checklist here.

What is FMLA intermittent leave?

A lot of leave cases are lumped into the intermittent leave category but there are some significant nuances that are important to call out. The TL;DR is that intermittent FMLA leave is any FMLA leave taken in separate blocks of time due to a single qualifying reason (this is governed by 29 CFR 825.202(a)). They can pose unique challenges for employers because the intermittent absence, regardless of duration, is legally protected regardless of the operational hardship it may pose. Employers often separate intermittent leave into three categories:

1. Planned intermittent leave. This usually involves planned medical treatments or caregiver obligations. Employees can schedule the time off and work with their employers to address operational needs arising from the absences. This type of intermittent leave is fairly common.

2. Unplanned intermittent leave. This type of intermittent leave often varies in duration, and arises when an employee’s or their family member’s medical condition flares up and they are unable to work as planned. This is where challenges arise, as the name suggests, the absence is unplanned.

3. Reduced leave schedules. This is when an employee takes FMLA leave and works fewer hours than usual, but in a consistent, predictable schedule that will continue for an agreed upon duration. Here, an employee may move from full-time to part-time for a period, but they are still treated as a full-time employee for health care benefits and potentially other benefit programs. 
   
   For example, an employee will return to work following surgery for a limited, and gradually increasing work schedule (e.g., 20 hours for the first month following surgery, 30 hours the second month, 35 hours the fourth month, and then back full time).

For simplicity, we’ll refer to it as intermittent leave from here on out, but the advice can apply for all three types described above.

Reasons for intermittent leave

Not all FMLA leave can be taken intermittently, so it’s crucial for employers to understand which reasons for leave do qualify. Employees can take intermittent leave for their own medical condition or to care for a qualifying family member—these two reasons must be “medically necessary,” which is documented with a serious health condition form. 

Some example reasons for leave:

• Chronic health condition flare-ups (IBS, arthritis)
• Mental health episodes (depression, anxiety attack)
• Ongoing conditions that require medical treatment 2+ times a year (squamous cell removal, cancer treatment follow-up care)
• Attending medical appointments for an ongoing condition (physical therapy, blood transfusion)

Intermittent leave obligations, nuances, and rights

Regardless of whether someone is taking a continuous, intermittent, or reduced schedule FMLA leave, many components and requirements are the same. However, there are a few nuances particular to intermittent leave. Here’s a simplified breakdown:

Obligations regardless of leave type

• Leave-takers must be eligible for FMLA:
  1. The employee must work for a covered employer.
  2. The employee must work at a worksite with at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
  3. The employee has worked for their employer for at least 12 months (and have logged 1,250 work hours during the 12 months immediately preceding their leave start date). 

• Employees can take a maximum of 12 workweeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period (except for military caregiver leave).
• Medical and caregiver leaves generally should provide medical certifications from a healthcare provider to demonstrate the need for it.
• Foreseeable leave should be requested at least 30 days in advance when possible, and ASAP for emergencies or sudden changes.
• Employers need to clearly communicate how employees can request FMLA leave (e.g., requesting leave in Cocoon).

Nuances particular to intermittent leave

• Employers have the right to request additional supporting medical documentation at certain intervals after an intermittent medical or caregiver leave starts. For example, if an employee’s doctor initially estimated six weeks for recovery, but after that time they request one day a week for physical therapy for two months, their employer could request this documentation from the healthcare provider at the end of the first six weeks, and again after the two months of physical therapy.
• Under FMLA, employees are not permitted to take intermittent leave for child bonding unless they clear it with their employer. There are also state leave laws where intermittent leave may be permitted for some or all qualifying leave types.
• Employees should make a reasonable effort to schedule treatments so as to not unduly disrupt employer’s operations.

Employees have the right to:

• Take intermittent leave (when medically necessary) in the smallest duration an employer accounts for in its payroll system (e.g. 15 minutes). 
• Arrive or depart early or late to work when medically necessary due to a qualifying serious health condition. 
• Have their job restored regardless of the hardship their intermittent absence caused to the business or other employees.
• Use their accrued paid time off (PTO) during periods of completely unpaid FMLA leave.

Employers have the right to:

• Require employees take FMLA intermittent leave in minimum increments, as long as that increment isn’t greater than one hour and the employee is not required to work.
• Request additional supporting medical documentation from an employee and their healthcare provider, like for:some text
  • Planned medical treatment/appointment dates and times.
  • Estimates of the frequency and duration of anticipated absences due to flare-ups of a condition.
  • Recommended leave schedules, clarifying the specific schedule an employee could work, and the duration the employee would need to work on that schedule.
  • Recertification if original documentation varies substantially from actual leave usage and needs, or they suspect there may be potential fraud or misuse of leave rights
• Require employees to request an intermittent leave like they would any other leave, and that when possible, they should call in an absence in a certain time frame before a scheduled shift.

Additional intermittent leave FAQs

Intermittent leave intersects and diverges with things like continuous leave and PTO, which can prompt some of these FAQs.

Can employers allow employees to use paid time off (PTO) instead of FMLA-qualifying intermittent leave? 

No. Under the FMLA, once an employer knows that a request for PTO is for an FMLA-qualifying event, an employer must designate the absence as FMLA-qualifying. From there the employee can elect to use PTO to cover any unpaid portion of the leave. Ultimately, this is for the employee’s benefit to be protected by the FMLA and to avoid disciplinary actions if their employer perceives “absenteeism” versus a legally-protected absence.

Can employees use our company’s paid medical leave instead of FMLA/state leave laws for intermittent leave?

No. Again, if employers know an employee is absent for an FMLA-qualifying reason, they must designate that absence as FMLA-qualifying. Most employers run company medical leaves concurrently with FMLA or other statutory leaves to minimize the period of time an employee is away from work, but employers could run their own medical leave policy after FMLA is exhausted (aka “stacking”).  

Also, employers should ensure that their company leaves are truly overlapping with FMLA leaves. Employers need to verify what conditions and situations their company’s leave policies do and do not address. For example, an employer’s leave policy might cover leave for family members that are not covered under FMLA (e.g., domestic partners, grandparents, and grandchildren). If employers feel unsure about any of this, we recommend going in-depth with our FMLA and parental leave checklists. Even if there’s already a policy in place, these checklists offer questions and considerations for situations employers might face with intermittent leave to help plan ahead.

Can you retroactively designate past intermittent leaves as FMLA?

It depends. Employers can retroactively designate FMLA leave if they send designations within the time frame required by law—which is within five business days of receiving all of the supporting documentation that they require to determine if the leave was FMLA-qualifying. If an employer takes longer than five days, they can still retroactively designate the absences as FMLA-qualifying, just as long as this doesn’t unfairly prejudice and impact the employee.

For example, if an employee was expecting to save their FMLA for the birth of their child, but it was retroactively designated towards a caregiver leave, they could argue that they would have pursued other options to care for their family member had they known about the designation. 

Another example: if an employee was absent intermittently for 10 days in September, but an employer only received a complete and sufficient medical certification supporting the need for intermittent leave on September 30th, they could retroactively designate all of the September absences as FMLA-qualifying. 

The bottom line

Navigating the complexities of intermittent leave is crucial for both employers and employees. By understanding its nuances and leveraging tools like Cocoon, organizations can ensure compliance while providing the flexibility that employees need during challenging times. A well-managed intermittent leave not only supports the health and well-being of employees but also maintains the smooth operation of the business. With the right approach and resources, intermittent leave can be a win-win situation, fostering a supportive workplace culture.

Even the most seasoned managers have lots of questions and doubts when a direct report takes leave—especially if it’s everybody’s first time. Yet, with over 10,000 leaves taken with Cocoon, we know first hand what it takes to plan a leave well, the questions people tend to have, and the factors that can best improve the employee experience. With Cocoon doing the heavy lifting on compliance, claims, and payroll, People Ops teams and managers can focus their time and attention on supporting an employee through a leave. Here we offer tons of tips, dos and don’ts, and even some templates to help you in the process.

Dos and don’ts upon finding out about an employee’s leave

People usually take leave as a result of a major life event. How you show up in that first conversation is important to get right. Here are some dos and don’ts to set the right tone.

Dos:

• Lead with empathy. Ask how they’re feeling, what their immediate needs and questions are—and truly listen to their answers.
• Keep your emotions in check. Make the leave-taker the protagonist, be steady and supportive for them.
• Show you’re willing to help. A leave-taker might not know what to say or do, and you might not either. Emphasize that you’re willing to learn and help them navigate.
• Lean into privacy and policy. Assume confidentiality with everything they tell you. Refer back to your organization’s leave policies so you understand what’s in scope and tap an HR partner to help you navigate policies in practice.

Don’ts

• Don’t jump in with solutions and advice. You don’t have all the information and answers. At this stage, it’s more important to listen and show your willingness to help them figure it out.
• Don’t make assumptions. Things that seem “happy” or “sad” can be fraught with all kinds of other emotions. Other details about their personal life and factors like race, class, and gender can impact a leave experience in ways you might not fully understand.
• Don’t make comparisons. Your own leave experience may or may not have anything to do with theirs. Your own experience helping another employee through their leave may or may not apply.

How to help a teammate prepare for a leave of absence

Once the wheels are in motion for an employee’s leave, it’s time to proactively plan with them around timelines, workloads, communication preferences, etc. For someone going on parental leave, you likely have a bigger window of time to hash out these details, whereas a medical, caregiver, and other leaves may come on suddenly—do your best to be proactive and to anticipate the unexpected while being reasonable with the time and resources you have.

💡Pro tip: download our leave transition plan worksheet so you can map out a leave plan together in a 1:1. It has a list of questions to work through, with space for your answers. 

1. Make a leave plan and timeline. Our leave options explorer tool is a great way to not only visualize timelines, but to play around with different scenarios to see how policies or pay change along the way. Write down your answers in the planning worksheet.
2. Make sure they feel comfortable and confident using Cocoon. This may sound like a shameless plug, but the biggest questions leave-takers have tend to be around pay and filing claims—and Cocoon is precisely the place where they can file and receive this information accurately, with more help on topics that most managers and even People Ops leads aren’t experts on.
3. Talk about pay and benefits. Though Cocoon has you covered here, it’s still important to discuss. Will any benefits be on hold while they’re out (e.g., stock vesting)? Tap HR, Accounting, and Legal teammates to make sure you’re giving accurate information.
4. Document responsibilities, processes, and current work. Get an idea of their day-to-day and recurring tasks. Understand where projects they’re part of stand. Have them record tutorials to walk colleagues through tools or processes they may be unfamiliar with. 
5. Pass along logins and contacts. What tools do they use that you may need to access or pause the licenses for? Who do they regularly communicate with that you need the contact information of? 
6. Re-balance team workloads. Figure out who can cover what, what you may have to outsource, and what might need to go on hold. Have this discussion in a team meeting for visibility. Nobody wants to feel like they suddenly got work dumped on them or that they were overlooked.
7. Discuss communication preferences. Generally, you shouldn’t contact someone on leave, but it’s important to set boundaries about how and when they might want to be contacted, and for what reasons.

Dos and don’ts while your employee is out on leave

By this stage, the plan you made has shifted into reality. While things don’t always go according to plan… these dos and don’ts keep you going steady on what you can control.

DON’T reach out… DO keep a one-pager of key updates

Though it might feel off to not check in, respect a leave-taker’s time away. Communications from a coworker might make them feel stressed or obligated to respond. Unless they have explicitly contacted you or asked to be contacted, a better way to handle this is by keeping track of team, project, and company updates as they happen and presenting them upon their return. 

💡Pro tip: If you have a regular 1:1 with the leave-taker, instead of canceling it, use that time to work on the updates so you don’t get behind.

DON’T expect them to do work… DO start preparing for their return to work

Except for staying on top of timely claims paperwork (which Cocoon helps with), a leave-taker shouldn’t have anything on their to-do list. Instead, focus on planning for their return from leave. Understand what accommodations your company offers (e.g., schedule modifications) and start to think about handoffs and workload re-balancing. Get your key updates one-pager ready, and refer back to the list of their responsibilities and project work to understand how handoffs could work. 

How to support a colleague after they return from leave 

Whether a leave-taker is ready to return to work or hesitant to, this transition will be a big shift for everyone, especially the leave-taker. Let them set the pace, while being an effective ally to help them set and achieve the boundaries and accommodations they need. Here are some tips for a smooth return:

1. Welcome them back. Make sure the team is aware of the leave-taker’s return date so they feel acknowledged and welcomed—but avoid making it a big spectacle or putting them on the spot.
2. Have an open, real conversation. Find a good time to sit down for a private one-on-one to ask them how things went, how they’re doing and feeling, what they need. Don’t get into work duties and what they missed—focus on their experience and listening.
3. Set ramp-up expectations. A leave-taker might need to set a particular schedule around their hours, or days they work from home vs. in-office. Communication norms should also be set (e.g., video off, no Slacks after 4pm). Loop in an HR partner to discuss additional accommodations, and explore them in Cocoon. 
4. Present the “things you missed” one-pager. Set aside time to go through your list of updates together, and also let them dive in by themselves. Answer any questions they may have.
5. Re-balance workloads. Once a leave-taker is caught up, you can work as a team to determine what will be handed off, when, and how—ensuring the scope and pace of handoffs makes sense.
6. Encourage community and support. Invite them to relevant Employee Resource Groups, Slack channels, or even informal communities within your organization so they can connect with others who can relate to their situation. 

Taking leave is a transformative experience that comes with highs and lows, and there’s no single way to prepare for an employee’s leave because each situation is different. Yet in leading with empathy, having a supportive mentality, and getting organized with Cocoon, you will be in as good of a place as you can be to support a leave-taker. Cocoon is dedicated to helping you do just that by offering the technology that keeps up with the legal and financial requirements, as well as giving tips to help you navigate the emotional side. Doing so is an important part of being a great manager, with lasting impacts that can resonate through a leave-taker’s career and personal life.