Dear Senator Gillibrand, Senator Cassidy, Representative Bice, Representative Houlahan and members of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional working group that’s exploring solutions to expand access to paid leave for all Americans: 

 

On behalf of Patagonia, I appreciate the opportunity to share input about our experience in providing paid leave to our employees. Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, CA. We employ more than 3,000 people globally, with 2,200 of those employees residing across the United States.  

We support our people with generous paid family, medical and caregiver leave. These benefits help us attract and retain talent, and retaining employees is crucial because turnover is expensive: It includes lost productivity while the position is vacant, and then the costs of recruiting, hiring and training new personnel. We see nearly 100% of mothers returning to work at Patagonia after taking maternity leave, and because of our paid leave and on-site childcare, women make up about 50% of our workforce—including 50% of upper management positions. In addition to the cost savings of retaining these employees, by offering childcare on-site we see significant productivity increases immediately as the employee returns to work. They can focus on their job knowing their newborn is, at most, a building or two away.

However, paid leave should not be a competitive advantage for Patagonia. Workers, regardless of their company or industry, should be provided with paid time off to use when they need to care for themselves, a newborn child or ill family member. To achieve this, the federal government must create a national paid leave program that builds from the best of what has been learned by state programs. A federal program could follow the social insurance model that has been set out by states rather than policies that rely solely on tax credits or drawing from Social Security—policies that have so far proven ineffective. A national policy should also provide a minimum of 12 weeks of paid leave for all forms of caregiving, and with progressive wage replacement that ensures low-wage workers get the support they need. We must minimize financial burdens on the American workforce.

Thirteen states and Washington D.C. have paid leave programs, and navigating multiple programs across different states is challenging for employers. A national policy would create consistency and simplicity for businesses, and more importantly, ensure equity for employees nationwide. While many companies voluntarily provide paid leave regardless of government regulations, far too many workers in this country lack the paid time off necessary to balance their careers and personal lives. I urge you, as federal lawmakers, to correct this by creating a national paid family and medical leave program.  

Thank you for the opportunity to submit a statement for the record, and please let me know if I can be of further assistance,  

Jenna Johnson

President, Patagonia