Effective Human Resources Strategies for Flexible Parental Leave Applications

A lack of flexibility in the application of human resources (HR) parental leave policy can negatively affect employee capacity and organizational sustainability. HR leadership policymakers are concerned that parental leave policies fail to accommodate individual employee circumstances, limiting effective workforce support and retention. Grounded in the resource-based view theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to identify and explore the effective strategies that HR leadership policymakers use to develop and implement flexible parental leave HR policy applications tailored to individual employee situations, thereby supporting improved employee capacity and the overall success and sustainability of the business. The participants were six HR leaders responsible for parental leave policy decisions and implementation in organizations located in the United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and reviews of publicly available organizational documents and relevant scholarly literature. Through thematic analysis, six themes were identified: (a) employee retention and engagement, (b) equity and inclusion, (c) work–life balance, (d) managerial support, (e) policy accessibility and awareness, and (f) work environment. A key recommendation for HR leaders is to develop multiple parental leave policy applications to accommodate parents with multiple births. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve work–life balance, increase parental workforce participation, reduce gender inequality, and strengthen economic outcomes.