To draw older workers, more companies are offering time off to new grandparents.
When Sharline Andersen’s eldest daughter gave birth seven years ago, she was dying to go visit. At the time, Andersen was working as an executive assistant at HireVue under the company’s founder, Mark Newman, and asked if she could take the week off to help her daughter find her bearings as a new mom.
Newman did her one better.
“He said, ‘You know, we should do that. We’ll call it grandternity leave,’” Andersen tells us. HireVue, a hiring technology company based in Utah, has maintained a grandparent leave policy ever since. And a growing number of employers are following their lead, from Fannie Mae to Cisco.
As a workplace perk, “granternity leave” makes a lot of sense. For one, the workforce is graying; people are living and working longer, which means there are going to be more Nanas and Pop-pops in offices. According to Census Bureau data, the number of workers 65 and older has quadrupled since the mid-’80s, and workers 75 and older are now the fastest-growing age group in the U.S.
“Companies need these workers, and so the smart ones are adopting benefits like grandparent leave to draw them in and get them to stay,” says Janine Vanderburg, founder of Changing the Narrative, an anti-ageism organization.
Vanderburg says she knows several colleagues who either put their careers on hold or simply stopped working when they became grandparents, and thinks a benefit like this could go a long way to keep older workers employed. “If someone becomes a grandparent and decides they want to take some time, you don’t wanna lose that employee and all the skills and experience they have, you want to retain them with something like grandparent leave,” she tells us.
At HireVue, chief marketing officer Amanda Hahn says their grandternity policy also sends a powerful message that they’re an age-diverse company that’s welcoming to more senior employees.
“Tech companies tend to skew younger, so as a recruiting tool it’s been great for us to show that we value having people at all stages of life join our organization,” Hahn tells us.
Grandternity leave can also be a lifeline for young families struggling to afford childcare.
“Grandparents can provide a cost-effective, trusted, in-home childcare solution that eases the financial burden of childcare,” says Reshma Saujani, the CEO of Moms First.
“Childcare provided through grandternity leave can bridge a family from the end of their paid family leave to daycare,” Saujani tells us. “Or, for the one-in-four moms who go back to work within two weeks of giving birth, grandternity benefits can provide coverage immediately.”
In short, it’s a win both for working moms and grandmothers like Andersen, who took grandparent leave five times during her tenure at HireVue.
“Having a grandchild come into your life is a really huge step,” she says. “And to have a company recognize that — even though it’s not the same as becoming a parent, it’s still a significant moment in your life — means a lot.”
