Building a great company culture includes offering strong benefits to employees and great benefit programs that are comprehensive, transparent, and clearly defined. Cockroach Labs excels at this in many regards, and our Parental Leave and Family Support are no exception. CRL understands that every family is unique, recognizing the importance of extending eligibility to not only the birth of an employee’s biological child, but also to any employee who is in the process of adopting or fostering. The support is robust, starting before a parent’s leave period and continuing well after the employee returns to work. With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t outline what’s “on the books” to support our employees as they prepare for their new addition: - Comprehensive planning and checklist in preparation for leave - $500 baby bucks to put towards essentials - Benefits support through Cocoon and family support resources through Cleo - 12 weeks Parental Leave + 2 weeks paid PTO - Flexibility to utilize leave all at once or in 1-week increments within first 12 months - ReRoachmate pairing upon return (fellow parent Roacher to meet with) - 12 weeks of Family Fridays upon return (20% of time dedicated to spending with family) - #little-roachers Slack channel for parents to share, discuss, and support each other With a parental leave program for all parents, we make it possible for parents of every gender to share in the joys and responsibilities of welcoming a child. The fact that parents have up to a year to take leave after welcoming their new family member allows Roachers and their families flexibility in arranging childcare, too. That said, policies are only meaningful if they are supported, normalized, and championed. And this is the difference between simply describing our Parental Leave policy and actually telling my Parental Leave journey and experience. So here’s my story..

As a startup, our policies and processes constantly evolve. All content in this post is true at the time of publication. For the most up-to-date information, please visit our careers page or reach out to recruiting@cockroachlabs.com.

David Delaney is a Recruiter at Cockroach Labs. During office hours you'll find Dave interviewing and reaching out to engineers or thinking about how to improve the candidate experience. Outside of work most of his time is dedicated to his wife Rachel and son Ezra, but he does find time on Sundays to run around a bit in his old guys soccer league.