Helloooo,

I’m celebrating a little local legislation today, and I’d love for you to celebrate with me! 👏

Allegheny County in Pennsylvania just passed a paid parental leave policy, and this is exactly why I try to pay attention to what’s happening in our communities.

They still need progress at the state level, but just a great example of how local action can make a difference for families. Even if policies like this face challenges, the precedent is phenomenal!

These days, we have to highlight the wins when we get them…even the small ones. 💪

Today, we’re getting into what this policy means, leave impacts for new moms, and the behind-the-scenes HR chaos Madison and I unpacked on the podcast!

📣 Before we get to that don't forget to snag your spot at next month's HR Therapy. We're getting into where all our time goes in HR and how to avoid ending up in a time votex.

🗞️ Here's the Tea:Copy anchor linkCopied

👪 Pennsylvania county becomes first in the nation to pass paid parental leave

The TL;DR: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, just became the first county in the country to pass a paid parental leave policy! Beginning Oct 22nd, 2027, covered employers with at least 15 employees must provide eligible workers with 12 weeks of paid leave, including for birth, adoption, and stillbirth. The policy can also apply to remote employees working in the county for employers based elsewhere.

My POV: I’d LOVE to see more counties and states follow Allegheny County’s lead! New parents deserve time to care for their families without wondering how they’ll cover the bills.

And for HR teams with employees in diff locations, it’s another reason to keep an eye on local leave requirements.

😇 Your company’s headquarters may be somewhere else, but your employees’ rights travel with them.

There will almost certainly be hurdles implementing this policy, but consider it a win that we got here at all!

🎙️Mic Drop Moment:Copy anchor linkCopied

“I don’t really like change all that much. Like, I can handle it, but it’s not my favorite.”Copy anchor linkCopied

On the mic this week: Madison Montgomery works alongside me on the people team at Workweek and has been my direct report for four years. She helps with everything from recruiting and onboarding to planning company retreats. She’s also the person responsible for getting me into Hacks and the Bravo universe, so basically...you can thank her for a portion of my personality.

Pin this:

• An ATS implementation gets even messier when you’re redesigning the recruiting process at the same time.
• A simple employee experience often takes a lot of invisible work from HR.
• Repeating information back during complicated projects can catch misunderstandings before they become bigger problems.
• When employees are grieving, kindness and flexibility from their workplace can make a lasting difference.

My H*ly Sh*t Moment: Listening to Madison describe wanting to experience a performance review reminded me how much invisible labor HR carries so everyone else can do exactly that!

▶️ Press Play

📊 Data Is My Love Language:Copy anchor linkCopied

Stat: New moms at large companies take around 80 more days of leave than moms at smaller companies, even after accounting for how much leave they’re entitled to.

My spiral: So it’s not just the policy, it’s whether anyone can actually use it.

If there’s nobody to cover your work, that 12-week policy is just a really nice theory but super hard in practice.

So, what can we do about it? Figuring out coverage plans is a good place to start. Start at least 2 months before someone goes out and map out what coverage actually looks like:

• Who owns what
• What can pause
• What needs a temp or contractor

At smaller companies doing this exercise is critical and could help those moms take all their entitled leave.

🗣️ UNMUTE YOURSELF

We all know someone who gets praised for answering emails at midnight or swooping in to fix everyone else’s mess.

I’ve started wondering what those habits cost them, and what the rest of the team learns from watching us reward them???

What’s a high performer behavior you’ve stopped romanticizing?

🛠️ TRY THIS TOMORROW:

Some policies stick around purely out of inertia. Tomorrow, choose one that makes you tired just thinking about it and ask:

If this policy showed up today, would we approve it?

👂 OVERHEARD IN SAFE SPACE

You can absolutely build a successful HR career without being anywhere near SHRM. Personally, I’d rather buy a literal LADDER than anything from them. Just saying! 🤷‍♀️

Read what members had to say here.

See ya on Friday!