In an insurer's survey, HR leaders put men's caregiving leave at 6% while employees reported 71%

HR's estimates and employee reports diverge in a consistent direction. The gap on men's caregiving leave is 65 points ^[16]. On women's it is 12 points, with HR estimating 60% and employees reporting 48% ^[2][17]. For leave over an employee's own physical health, HR put women at 34% and men at 14%, while employees reported 23% and 27% ^[6]. Men's mental health leave is the exception: HR's 9% landed near the 13% men reported ^[7].

The survey's design limits what it can show. The Standard also sells group disability, paid family leave and absence management services ^[4]. The employee survey is self-reported and the sample relatively small, so Human Resources Director describes the numbers as best read as directional ^[3].

The same outlet's account puts part of the cause in record-keeping. When personal health leave is tied to a disability claim, the records come out cleaner than they do for caregiving leave, which may be pulled from paid time off, employer-granted leave, FMLA entitlements or state paid family and medical leave programs, and is often filed under broad categories ^[9]. In our view, an HR team that tests the survey against its own system may find caregiving leave harder to count than leave tied to a disability claim.

A skeptic would say a vendor's directional survey cannot show that anyone's communications are aimed at the wrong people, and on that narrow point the skeptic is right. The survey compares HR's estimates with what employees say they did. The Standard's release says the findings suggest assumptions about gender and caregiving may keep employers from communicating and directing absence benefits effectively ^[5]. "The story on leave for men and women isn't what HR professionals think it is," said Brad Yoder, assistant vice president of life, supplemental and disability claims at The Standard ^[14]. Human Resources Director suggests starting with the materials employees see: enrollment guides, manager toolkits and benefits portals. Any of them may speak to mothers and ignore fathers who need the same leave ^[18].

Caregiving leave is also growing. In its 2026 benchmark, the leave management technology vendor Sparrow reported a 150% rise in caregiver leave claims between 2020 and 2026, and said the median length of those leaves went from 12.5 days to 49.5 days. The figures come from Sparrow's own customers ^[10]. The trend raises the cost of a wrong assumption over years. That leaves room to check records before rewriting anything.

The choice this quarter is between speed and footing. Revising guides and toolkits now is quick and rests on a survey that is directional. Pulling internal leave records first uses the employer's own data but runs into the coding problem. We think the records check is worth the delay, since it is the step that tests the survey against the employer's own workforce.