Parental leave policies
I wanted to get a sense of parental leave policies at various buyside shops. I am at a LO in NYC and our policy is 16 weeks paid leave for primary caregiver and 4 weeks for secondary caregiver, and most investment professionals actually take the full leave.
What is the policy at your shop and do people actually take the full leave? And what is the expected impact on bonus?
Our policy is 19 weeks total of maternity leave if you are giving birth, 10 weeks of parental leave otherwise (which is functionally paternity leave for the most part, though does cover things like adoption, etc.). That ten weeks can be broken up in one week increments, and used within the first 12 months following a child. Of all the benefit and comp issues I have with my firm - this is not one of them, I think it's a very strong benefit.
Everyone takes the parental leave, and I've strongly encouraged everyone on my team to use every single day of it - for the parental leave, it's entirely up to them how they choose to use it. All I ask is that they work with myself, and the team, to ensure that it's clear and coverage is determined in advance.
Bonus wise - you should confer with HR and your manager about any explicit policies on this, to make sure there's nothing that catches you off guard. For the most part - if it's a discretionary or target based on firm/team/personal performance - it's generally non-factor, and you should expect a bonus requisite with your performance as in any other year. I've never thought about it in bonus discussions, granted ours are pretty formulaic and you can only really make decisions at the margins.
Good insight thank you. Glad to hear that people actually take the leave and team members are supportive. Are you at a US headquartered LO shop or other? I've seen non-US firms be more lenient than US firms.
Agreed that for the most part, foreign tend to be more accommodative - my firm is US based, and are generally pretty accommodative benefits wise.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, parental leave policies and their impact on bonuses can vary significantly across buyside firms. Here are some insights:
Generous Leave Policies: Some firms offer policies like 16 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers and 4 weeks for secondary caregivers, similar to what you described. These policies are designed to support work-life balance and are often fully utilized by employees, including investment professionals.
Impact on Bonuses: In firms with thoughtful leadership, taking parental leave does not impair compensation, including bonuses, or career progression. This is seen as a key factor in retaining talent, especially for parents.
Cultural Factors: The actual utilization of leave often depends on the firm's culture. At firms where senior leaders openly take advantage of these policies, it sets a precedent for others to do the same without fear of negative repercussions.
Additional Perks: Some firms go beyond leave policies by offering childcare stipends, discounts on domestic services, or flexible work hours to further support parents.
If you're evaluating a firm's parental leave policy, it's also worth considering how much leave people actually take and whether the policy is genuinely supported by the firm's culture.
Sources: Q&A: Buyside women, Q&A: Buyside women, Bereavement Leave in IBD
Very good question OP. Old firm was very generous, I think it was like 3-4mo for both paternity and maternity leave. Not sure that many men took the full leave but no one blinked an eye at a guy taking 2mo off for this (I think they were keeping up w/ their coverage at a basic level flagging important newsflow but not really working)
Current firm doesn't have an official policy. I think they will be fine with a guy taking 1mo off, but I am also 100% sure they will NOT be ok with 3mo off. Whenever I do have a kid, I think I'll try to finagle ~6 weeks if I can, with added flex to WFH 1-2 days a week for the first 6-12mo (though I'll need to negotiate this a bit -- hopefully on the back of good trailing 1yr performance)
Honestly, I think maternity leave should be ~6mo and paternity leave at least ~3mo -- but that's just my personal opinion
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