Why some employers are expanding paid leave for NICU parents

More parents have gained access to paid parental leave in recent years, thanks to state policies requiring it and private sector efforts to expand access to these benefits.

But enhanced support for working parents with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) remains rare.

“As far as companies are concerned, we just haven’t seen a dedicated policy for NICU leave,” Keira Sorrells, co-founder and executive director of the NICU Parent Network, said. Sorrells, who spent time in the NICU herself when she had triplets born at 25 weeks, said leave policies to support these parents should look different than regular parental leave, given the needs are different.

In 2023, nearly 1 in 10 infants was admitted to a NICU, according to the CDC. These newborns typically spend two weeks in the NICU, on average, before their parents can bring them home. NICU parents are at higher risk of developing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, Sorrells noted, and may have to hold off on sending their babies to daycare, given the medical risks.

“This isn’t maternity leave so the mom can heal from pregnancy, right? This isn’t bonding leave where you’re developing that bond. This is in addition to all of that,” she said.

Employers investing in NICU leave. A few companies recently rolled out dedicated leave policies for NICU parents in light of these particular needs.

Walmart, the largest private-sector employer in the US, announced it will provide up to 12 weeks of paid NICU leave for eligible associates starting on Nov. 17. When combined with other paid leave benefits the retailer provides, the company estimated frontline employees can take up to 28 weeks of paid leave if their birth includes a NICU admission.

The law firm Lowenstein Sandler will grant an additional week of paid parental leave for each week a parent spends in the NICU—up to eight additional weeks—starting on Jan. 1, according to Chief People Officer Donatella Verrico. New parents are already eligible to take 16 weeks of paid leave from the firm.

Verrico started thinking about a formal NICU leave policy after she was approached by a few members of the firm’s employee resource group for female employees. These women had babies who had recently been in the NICU for extended periods of time, which prompted Verrico and her colleagues to consider how NICU stays might inhibit workers’ ability to have “that true bonding experience” that the firm’s standard leave policy is intended for.

After Verrico was approached by these employees in the spring, the people team conferred with the firm’s external brokers and advisors to create a NICU leave policy proposal, drawing on anonymous data to understand how much time employees typically spent in the NICU with their babies. They presented it at the firm’s September committee operating meeting, “and it was instantaneously approved,” Verrico said. She added that the policy received strong support from the committee because it offered a way to show the firm is living out its “core values.”

The baby formula manufacturer Bobbie, which has offered up to 16 additional weeks of leave to NICU parents since 2022, encourages other private sector employers to do the same in its advocacy work, Michele Lampach, director of impact and policy, said.

She said Bobbie tries to emphasize that NICU leave doesn’t typically represent a major additional cost for businesses (just three Bobbie employees have taken it since it was instituted). While NICU leave can have an “outsized impact” on affected families, “from a dollars and cents perspective, it’s not going to be a ton of folks that end up, hopefully, in that situation.”

Public sector support. Employers may see the public sector chip in with expanded support for NICU parents in the coming years, as well. Colorado’s paid parental leave program now includes extended support for NICU parents, while Illinois requires employers with 51 or more workers to grant up to 20 days of unpaid, job-protected leave to these employees.