One chart shows why more companies should invest in paid parental leave

• A new survey of over 440,000 working parents at some 1,200 companies shows that employees who work for companies that offer generous paid parental leave and other parental benefits report higher rates of retention and engagement.
• The 10 companies that ranked the highest in terms of employee sentiment as well as benefits include Cisco, Hilton, Comcast NBC Universal, PwC, Deloitte, Wegmans, and American Express.
• These companies offered 20 weeks of maternity leave on average, covering around 18 of them at full pay.

A new survey of more than 1,200 companies shows that it pays to invest in benefits for working parents.

Health and benefits provider Maven and Great Place to Work, a polling company, asked some 440,000 working parents about the benefits their employers provide, as well as how they feel about their company.

Companies were then ranked based on the number of weeks primary and secondary caregivers received in paid parental leave, as well the extent to which employees had access to childcare resources and discounts, fertility planning, and other benefits.

Then, the report compared answers from employees at the 100 companies that had the best benefits to responses from the remaining 1,100 companies. In all cases, companies that had better benefits for working parents ranked higher. You can see the results in the chart below.

In other words, companies that invested more in their working parents saw higher rates of reported retention, advocacy, and effort.

The 10 companies that ranked the highest in terms of best parental benefits include Cisco, Hilton, Comcast NBC Universal, PwC, Deloitte, Wegmans, and American Express.

These companies offered 20 weeks of maternity leave on average, covering around 18 of them as fully paid. They also offered fertility support and nine out of the 10 support parents finding childcare resources.

An increasing body of research shows that happy employees perform better and are more likely to stay with a company. A 2016 EY study of more than 1,500 employers found that over 80% of companies that offer paid family leave reported an increase in employee morale, and more than 70% reported an increase in employee productivity.

Employees who feel engaged at work in general drive up company productivity and help avoid costs associated with high turnover, studies show. It's something more leaders are paying attention to.

On Tuesday, Danone North America announced it would extend its 18-week paid parental leave policy to include its 3,500 manufacturing and hourly workers.

Speaking with Business Insider, Danone North America's CEO, Shane Grant, said the move wasn't just "the right thing to do" but also "the smart thing to do for business," adding that the company expects to see "real returns."

The company is hardly alone in moving to expand benefits for parents. In recent years, Starbucks, Walmart, and Amazon have also expanded their parental leave benefits to include hourly workers. And amid the coronavirus pandemic, many companies have added flexibility and expanded childcare benefits.