1. Turned down turnover
In 2014, RaceTrac surveyed its 7,000 employees to find out what they valued in a workplace. More than 50% of the corporate responses mentioned paid family leave. “When we were flipping through the comments, I was thinking there’s no way this many people are thinking about having babies,” Upshaw said. “But at least everyone is a parent or a grandparent or aunt or uncle; they understand.”
A lack of a company-sponsored paid parental leave was also reflected in the exit interviews for female employees. When they started to plan a family, they would make a move to other retail companies with more robust leave policies. However, Upshaw has not heard that feedback since the program began this summer. “We’ve not lost any of our top-performing women since we’ve implemented the new policy,” she said.