Why smart parental support is a business advantage, not a benefit or perk
Most companies treat parental leave as a wellbeing initiative. Karla Calinawan thinks that's costing them more than they realise, from lost talent to broken leadership pipelines.
Most companies treat parental leave as a wellbeing initiative. Karla Calinawan thinks that's costing them more than they realise. A former Silicon Valley tech leader, founder of Foundry and one of the original Experts on the TruthWorks platform, Karla joins Emily Firth to make the business case for rethinking how organisations support working parents, from the moment someone announces a pregnancy to long after they return.
This isn't a cosy conversation about work-life balance. It's a hard-hitting look at retention, leadership pipelines, gender equity and the systemic changes that actually move the needle. If it sparks ideas for your own organisation, you can work with Karla directly through TruthWorks.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why a failed return from leave is never just an individual problem
- Why managers make or break the return, and why they're so often left to figure it out alone
- How guilt and masking quietly damage engagement and culture
- What good support looks like before, during and after parental leave
- Why the skills caregivers build on leave map directly onto leadership
- How to build a data-led business case that convinces a sceptical CEO
It's not enough to just support the individual parents. The systems in which they operate, mainly the workplaces, also need to change.
Chapters
00:02 - Meet Karla Calinawan, founder of Foundry
01:38 - Three parental leaves and leaving corporate life
02:37 - Layoffs, mat leave and building something different
03:46 - The domino effect of a failed return
04:36 - The CMO whose role quietly shrank while she was on leave
06:07 - What returning parents are really experiencing
08:44 - The manager gap: 70% say it comes down to their manager
09:50 - Guilt and masking, and why both are dangerous
11:24 - From language shifts to structured ramp-up programmes
13:33 - Why parental support can’t be delegated to ERGs
15:13 - Before, during and after: what good looks like
17:36 - Keeping in touch days and the power of choice
22:11 - Returning to a role AI has changed
23:51 - The leadership skills caregivers build on leave
26:02 - The motherhood penalty and the paternity leave problem
28:18 - Equitable policies and male leaders role modelling care
28:48 - The parental leave data gap
30:07 - 420,000 UK women who want to return to work
32:12 - 30 million unfilled roles by 2030
33:07 - The cost starts long before someone resigns
34:08 - The top performer who missed Presidents Club on a technicality
37:30 - How Karla works with companies today
39:33 - Building the business case for a sceptical CEO
40:29 - Three things every CEO should be thinking about now
Key Take-aways
- Parental leave is a retention and leadership pipeline issue, not just a wellbeing perk.
- A failed return affects teams, managers and the bottom line, not just the individual.
- 70% of parents say their return comes down to their manager, so managers need real support.
- Support needs to be built into business operations before, during and after leave, not left to ERGs.
- Caregivers build skills on leave that map directly onto leadership competencies.
- Equitable leave policies, and male leaders who role model caregiving, are key to closing the gender gap.
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