Empowered & equipped to be a successful working parent” at Hershey: Laura’s parental leave story

When Laura Cooley had her first child in 2021, she planned her leave the only way she knew how: by asking around, stitching together advice from coworkers and hoping she didn’t miss anything.

By the time she was preparing for her second child, things had changed. Hershey expanded paid parental leave from three to five months - and paired it with structured support through Parentaly.

This time, Laura had the tools to be more intentional. She used Parentaly’s guides to plan her coverage, communicate her needs and think strategically about her role long-term.

As a result, she came back energized, focused and more confident than ever. Her team was set up for success, her manager was fully in the loop, and the business didn’t miss a beat.

Laura has been one of Parentaly’s biggest internal champions, using her role in Hershey’s women’s BRG to encourage others to take advantage of the new offering.

She shares how that support transformed her experience - and why generous leave, when paired with thoughtful planning tools for employees and managers, is good for both people and the business.

Allison: Laura, thank you so much for joining me here today to unpack this experience of what it's like to go through parental leave.

Laura: Absolutely, so thrilled to be here to share my experience and chat with you.

Allison: Well, let's start with when you and I first met each other. I was trying to remember when we were first in conversation. I think it was, you were already a mother. You'd gone through the parental leave experience, you know, previously, then we met and you were really a major part of supporting your company in thinking about how we better support the parental leave experience. Tell me, let's go back in time to before you and I ever met. 

What was that like going through parental leave for the first time? And what were the biggest learnings and challenges that then inspired you to get so involved in looking for a better way?

Laura: Yeah, so I remember Hershey was trying out this Parentaly pilot. I was very curious about what it was and I'm so happy that I got looped into it to provide feedback, even though I wasn't in the pilot, I was able to provide some of that perspective. For me, going into my first child, my first leave was overwhelming. That's like the word that comes to mind. I'm definitely an over planner.

By nature, I want control. I want to know everything that's going to happen. And with planning for leave, both from the logistical side, the benefits, then to just the actual work planning, it just felt so overwhelming. I found myself crowdsourcing a little bit from other employees that had gone on leave and, how did you structure your document and all that stuff? I guess...

So, you know, I had a fine leave, it was great, but when I found out about Parentaly and the work you were doing, I was like, this could have been so much better. I could have felt more at ease. My team, my manager probably would have appreciated the tools. So it was, I was so happy to support whatever Hershey was going to do with Parentaly. And I'm so glad that that relationship has continued because

It truly was night and day and the support from the tools perspective and just the messaging, the communication, knowing that your company has support for this in some shape or form rather than, oh, figure it out. You're on your own. So just all of that holistically just feels like such a better place to be in.

Allison: Right. And I totally forgot that you were involved way back in our earliest conversations. Cause oftentimes when we work with companies, there's a long sort of getting to know you period. And now I'm remembering you were looped in as part of the ERG as somebody who was very passionate about this space. You weren't pregnant at that time, but then fast forward, we launched our partnership together and you did then get to go through the Parentaly support while you were at Hershey. 

And I think Parentaly is amazing, but we can't do everything, right? Like even with the Parentaly support, there are still fears and concerns. And one of the biggest questions that we get from companies that are finding out about us is, but do you actually benefit second time parents? And I'm curious from your perspective, you've already gone through Parentaly, now you have access to additional support. 

What were some of your top concerns or priorities or areas that you were really focused on as you approached your second leave, but the first one with access to Parentaly support.

Laura: So two big differences from leave one to leave two. Leave one, we had about three months in total of leave and no parental leave support. Leave two, our leave changed to about five months of leave, paid leave and parental leave support. So very different things to plan for. For the second time, I was most nervous about that length of leave. That's just felt like such a long time to offload and just step away and come back. So that duration of leave was definitely kind of a pain point, a fear point. And I do hear that from other people planning as well now. The other thing for me that I didn't even know could be part of the planning process was career planning. And it seems almost counterintuitive, like, I'm taking time away from work to bond with my baby.

why should I be thinking about the next move? And I, so I didn't have any of that conversation with my first leave, but through the toolkit, the guides that Parentaly provides, those were part of the planning process. Like envision what you want for your career, envision what you want coming back in the next role, the next role. And it does all sort of fit together. So I was much more empowered to think through those things ahead of time and think through my next role.

before I even left for my leave. So I don't think I would have had that more like long-term perspective. And I use the word empowerment beforehand. Preparing for leave, coming back as a working mother is a strength, it's a benefit. And I think the more that we can recognize that stepping away for this personal special time.

is not, should not be a detriment to your career. can be, you you guys always say it's like a, it's a resume booster in a way, right? So it's a, so yeah, those two things, the length of time being scared for that, and then being empowered to talk about career were kind of the two game changers.

Allison: When you think back on your pre-leave planning experience with Parentaly, what do you think was most helpful or most powerful? Whether it was a thing you did, a conversation you had, something you read, any of the above.

I'm just curious the second time around, what do you think was most helpful? Like what, if you had to give advice to someone going on parental leave, what is something that in hindsight you think, gosh, that was the most powerful thing that I did?

Laura: Yeah, the from one of the parental conversation guides, it was about kind of what what gives you energy and what is like an energy detractor. That exercise was super powerful for me. And I definitely recommend that to anyone going on leave. It's just a great way to one, like get past that overwhelm of hey, I have to plan for all this. and I have to come back to all this.

I think getting ahead of that and sorting out what truly does matter in the role you're in is powerful for both yourself and your team. So that whole exercise of what truly gives me energy at work in this role and what could I just do without? I used it, I referenced it with my manager. We went line by line through it and she was really grateful that I did that because it could just help her prioritize like what needed to be worked on and maybe how my role may be tweaked a little bit when I came back. So that's one I definitely pass on to other friends getting ready for preparing for leave.

Allison: How much did you think about the impact on your coworkers of your leave?

Laura: So I feel like I might've been in a unique position with the second leave as my manager joined the team a month before I was going out. So she had to onboard very quickly. So I definitely was a little more sensitive to her, but she was super appreciative of all the work I did prior putting together as much as I could of a work plan. Giving her the download and using the wonderful templates from Parentaly to just get my thoughts organized. So I definitely thought about her a lot, but I think, you know, I did check in halfway through my leave and she was doing fine. like, okay. So then I didn't worry too much, I never felt, even with both, never felt guilt. That is not a word that popped into my mind and I wish I could take that guilt away from other mostly moms that I talked to because I just wish they wouldn't feel that way. So I think it was respect for the work that the team was helping me with, but also gratefulness as well.

Allison: Yeah. And did your manager cover for you while you were out or did you split up your work? 

Laura: Yeah, she probably took about 85%. Yeah.

Allison: Okay, got it. Well, and you're raising a good point too, because I think oftentimes when I talk to companies, they're very focused on how do we teach managers to support their direct report going on leave? That is really like to a lot of people, the straightest line to solve this problem. And one of the things that we've found is that, yes, we absolutely do that. We run manager trainings with all of our clients so that the managers know what to do. But I've found that it's...unrealistic to expect managers to do it all. They're never gonna be experts.

And also something that you just said that kind of popped into my mind is, I think people would be shocked how often your manager switches throughout the parental leave experience. So if we as an organization rely on, we're just gonna like make sure all these managers know what to do, which is very difficult slash impossible anyway. But even if that were possible, I mean, people are switching managers left and right. There's a new person who comes in, there's a reorg, you're on leave and somebody else is gonna be your manager when you return. And so it's interesting the example that you shared where you almost had to navigate this experience without a manager to a certain extent until your manager joined right before you went on leave, right?

Laura: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I think the manager education is certainly important. I do not think it is their responsibility to create a good leave. think it's a mutual, know, it's definitely, I don't know if it's 50-50 or whatever, but I think they need to be empathetic and aware of the work that that employee is going through to put together a good plan, thinking through that post-work or post leave return. That I think is really important for the manager to take some ownership of. to your point, yeah, managers can come and go and it's ultimately your leave and your plan. I think the support needs to primarily be given to the person preparing for leave to know that their time away is meaningful and their return back will be like smooth and supported. It just all goes a long way. So yeah, it's a give and take.

Allison: Yeah, I'd love to hear about your return to work experience and how you leverage the parental resources during that phase as well.

Laura: Yes, so I think definitely setting expectations pre-leave of like what you want to come back to, how you want to come back, what you want to be communicated, how you want to be communicated with while on leave. I was very clear of, these are the things I want you to talk to me about. You can reach out. I still felt like some of the team was like, they didn't want to bother me. And I told them like, no, you can tell me this. It's okay.

So I think being able to assess the leave communication style. The return to work for me, a month out, I had a call with my manager and set some of my own thoughts of like, hey, I think I can get back up to speed in one week. She was very much like, no, no, no. We're going to ease into this. I'm very grateful for her. I think I overestimated that you know, coming back, especially after five months off. So being prepared and being okay with that ease back in, that would not be possible without support from, you know, your manager. So that's where that manager training comes in. But I think it was an open dialogue. I was very clear to share what I could do. There was a meeting that required travel coming up and she asked like, do you want to do this? Do you not?

So I think, yeah, it's keeping an open dialogue, knowing that that return might be fluid. You might feel differently two weeks in. And I'm a very transparent person, so I was very open with, the struggle of the day, the struggle of the week, and just being adaptable. So from leave one and leave two, think it's just having those tools to have the conversation knowing you have the right to have the conversation and a little bit of the, I guess, hindsight from leave one to leave two. I just knew a little bit more of what to ask for and what to expect. So, yeah.

Allison: How did this experience impact, if at all, the way that you think about your work with the ERG?

Laura: I feel like I get to be a spokesperson for Parentaly in a way. Yes, I'm always making sure people know, hey, here's the link to sign up for the toolkit. Make sure you get in the loop on all the to-do lists and everything. I also just think it helps me have another tool to connect with more people. From men to women going on leave.

Allison: Love that.

Laura: I've actually spoken to more men in the last few months about lead planning and they're signing up for Parentaly So it's just giving me a great platform to connect with more parents. And yeah, I just am so happy that I can encourage people to have that sense of empowerment and know that being a working parent is definitely a superpower and knowing that we have resources and you don't have to do it alone. So that's something that the ERG involvement has given me.

Allison: It's funny that you brought up fathers, because I think that that's something that we've also been very excited to see is that there are a lot of fathers that are very enthusiastic about receiving this support, because I think for a lot of fathers specifically, they're actually afraid to take their leaves because of the expectation or societal pressure that for them it's an optional thing versus for a mother it's, of course the mother is gonna go on leave, especially if she's giving birth, right? And for fathers, what oftentimes stops them is fear about business disruption and the business continuity piece. I'm curious if there are other things that you've heard from fathers around what support or what advice they're looking for as they think about their upcoming parental leaves.

Laura: I think it's the same type of support for as the mom. Obviously the leave length is going to be a little bit different, at least at our company. But it's that like, kind of how do I get started? How do I put together a plan? You know, how do I file the benefits? just, I think this level of support is the same. I think there is a stigma to taking the leave, but I have a sense that that is quickly breaking.

which is fantastic. So I've seen a bunch of men with their long out of offices on as they welcomed a new child. So that is encouraging to me because the change has to start somewhere and I do feel like that's happening. So I think Parentaly just gives you that place to get support and just the tools to get started. I think the big thing for me is like, tools to have conversations you didn't know you had the right to have. And I think that goes for the fathers too.

Allison: Yeah, yeah. We have a lot of parents who follow us on LinkedIn or listen to the podcast and they feel very passionately about this topic. They had a bad experience themselves or see their teammates having bad experiences with parental leave. And they're oftentimes coming to us saying, I don't know how to share this feedback internally at my company. I don't know.

Do I go to HR? Do I go to benefits? Do I go to my business unit lead? And what do I tell them? Because it's a very sensitive space for some people. Do you have any advice around that for parents who want to be an internal advocate for maybe not even Parentaly, but for getting better support in the parental leave experience? Maybe this is something that you saw at Hershey or just advice that you would have more broadly for people to... help that experience.

Laura: Yeah, the most impact that we've had is through the ERG, the women's ERG at Hershey, not just for maybe Leave. Well, I think Leave was part of one impact we had previously, but kind of funneling it through that and being a central voice, we have made changes, getting more expectant mother parking spots, getting upgrades to our wellness rooms.

you know, mothers nursing, pumping rooms. So I would start with like a centralized ERG at your company to voice that concern because I think that's what those types of groups are there for. If you have like any type of, yeah, benefits coordinator getting to that maybe like director level or something. But yeah, the experience part can definitely be hard to crack.

But the most success we've had is kind of going through the BRG and usually there's like a kind of leadership sponsor that can help hear those changes and funnel those requests or concerns. And that's where we've had the most success. takes time, of course, but any movement forward to me is good.

Allison: Yeah. And I think what's really hard for some people is if you're just one voice, it doesn't, you know, we're all experiencing different challenges in our life. And so it's hard for a company to know, is this just you? Is this a bigger challenge? And so that's where I think actually the BRGs or the ERGs and other companies, they do have a lot of power is that companies are looking to them to say, okay, you tell me how to prioritize what the challenges are for these different groups of folks. How do you in the BRG decide what things to focus on? Like what rises to the top? Because there's a lot of things you could be focused on.

Laura: Yeah. So we have probably for the last four or five years been running these small groups. We have different topics and one, the way that I got involved in our women's BRG is through leading the like new and expecting parents small group. So people very freshly back from leave with new babies or preparing to go out on leave. That's a forum where, you know, it's very free flowing. hear lots of different things

So that's a place where I've anonymously compiled themes that we've heard. And then you just have other people knew I was involved in that. So they would funnel me things they've heard or experiencing. So it's a little bit of that, you know, a word of mouth that it comes about. And then in terms of prioritizing, I think it's just like how many times you hear it and kind of just recognizing maybe, hey, yeah, this is like a broader concern where this is going to be impacting a good amount of people. I think that's the way that we've tried to funnel things of how to go about approaching them.

‍Allison: If you had to talk about Parentaly to an expecting coworker, what would you tell them about Parentaly? How would you frame what the value is and why they should consider tapping into those resources?

Laura: Yes, so to me, it's a Parentaly's value is making parents feel empowered, valued and equipped to be a successful working parent. Leave planning is definitely part of it, but I just think that that's the catalyst for coming back to be confident and knowing your priorities and as being a working parent. So I keep saying empowerment.

Like I just felt coming back the second time so much more confident because I could have conversations about career and what work I truly want to do because my time is valuable. I am a much more productive worker now than I was pre-kids. So I think just recognizing your time is important and valuable and the Parentaly experience helped me start to discover that.

I think you're just helping people set up to become good working parents and it's you know, it's a roller coaster. It's a it's a winding path to get there but just Starting off with that strong leave experience is I think a good foundation

Allison: What I love about your story is also the fact that your second leave was longer, because I think oftentimes people conflate the two and they think, well, longer leaves are going to be harder on the business. It's going to hurt the business results more. So sure, employees want longer time, but it's going to be way worse for the business.

Laura: I was not ready to come back from a three month leave. Coming back after a five month leave, I was ready. I was ready to jump in. My mind was in a good place to kind of turn off from baby care 24-7. I know you're a big advocate of accessing more paid extended leave for all. I think the length of time is a benefit to keep people around. You're coming back stronger, confident, not feeling like you're being ripped from your baby because yeah, the feelings there at five, six months back, but not as strong as that, that three month return or even even less, can't imagine. So I do think it's a benefit to the company because that employee is coming back happier and more confident and more ready to jump in. 

Allison: Yeah, and I think that what you're saying is also really powerful around you felt better, you felt like the whole experience and also I can imagine that the results of your work streams weren't completely destroyed just because the time was longer, right? And that's so much of what we talk about is you have to do both. Like you have to offer more generous paid leave for all the reasons you just described. And also you need to plan for it because if you don't plan for it, that is when longer leaves can sort of destroy the trajectory and the impact and whatnot. But if you plan and you have access to that more generous leave time, then you are, it's sort of like the one-two punch to set everything up for the outcomes that everybody wants.

Laura: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I do have empathy though for the team left behind to do the work. There are definitely some functions within our company that feel that strain more. And this is one where I don't know how to fight the battle internally, but I just, know other companies have figured it out of having flex roles or someone who's kind of like in a role to float, right? And provide support.

Allison: Right.

Laura: We haven't figured that model out yet at our company. And I just, I know that that could make the holistic experience better for the people, you know, picking up the work and also making that person on leave feel maybe a little bit better. So it's, you know, it's, it's a natural part to like, feel like, man, like I'm leaving my team with this work and especially they can't find like a temporary help. So. That's another equation that I would love companies to figure out.

Allison: Yeah. And it is not even to get so in the weeds, but it's so complicated because you're right. For some people, that's the right solution. For other people, it's not. It's like there isn't one magic wand, know, okay, now we just double the head count and now we're okay. Because it's like, even with, we work with some companies where everybody has a budget to bring in a backfill and only a very small fraction actually do that.

Like it is very difficult sometimes to figure out what is the right solution, which is why I just think this is such an interesting topic and it's very nuanced is like, what things can you pause? What things can you accelerate and get done before you go and leave? And then what is the right path forward for the various work streams? And I just don't believe that the answer is shorter leaves are always better even if we're just looking at the business continuity piece and totally ignoring the employee experience, you know?

Laura: Mm-hmm. no, I agree.

Allison: Yeah. Okay, we are at time. guess if you, I'm gonna wrap this up and I did not prep you with this. So I'm putting you on the spot. If you had to give advice to someone at Hershey who is expecting their first child around how to navigate the return to work experience, what would you tell them today? Their pre-leave, what are you gonna tell them to, as hindsight, you're an experienced parental leave taker at this point, what's your big piece of advice for them?

Laura: I think it's honing your time management skills. Your time is going to be stretched in ways you didn't know before. So being able to have those clear boundaries for work and personal and just being flexible in learning and navigating what that looks like for you. know, yeah, your time is just going to have to be spent in different ways and learning how to be efficient with that time. I that was the biggest skill coming back from having children that I had to practice more seriously than I did before. So, yeah, be ready to be a good time manager.

Allison: I love that and I completely resonate with that feedback. Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience today. think, you know, this is such, it's a topic that five years ago people weren't really talking about. And I love how you talked about having these conversations. Like it may sound minor, but it is so impactful to be able to have those conversations and really prepare for and then support that reentry experience because it is a major shift for anyone home and work life. Thank you so much for sharing your experience today.

Laura: Yeah, thank you. Thank you for all you do. You and your team being such great change agents and starting the conversations. We couldn't do it without you. You guys have made such a difference and an impact in the way we're talking about Leave. So I'm very grateful to you as well.

Allison: Thank you.