PagerDuty is proud to have implemented industry-leading programs for parental leave and employee wellness. Together with our employees, we are committed to building a healthy, happy workplace for all Dutonians. 

By Joe Militello, PagerDuty Chief People Officer
January 25, 2022 

Industry-Leading Parental Leave Programs

Almost 30% of our employees identify as parents or caregivers, according to the 2021 PagerDuty Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity annual report. Through BabyDuty, our global parental leave program, we provide generous paid leave, and in many cases go above and beyond the minimum requirements. For instance:

• US: We offer up to 22 weeks of paid parental leave for pregnant parents and 12 weeks for non-pregnant parents, including adoptive parents.
• CANADA: We also offer up to 22 weeks of paid parental leave for pregnant parents and 12 weeks for non-pregnant parents, including adoptive parents in coordination with Canada Employment Insurance as well as unpaid parental leave for the remaining parental leave required by Canada.

New in 2022, we’re excited to introduce a phased return-to-work policy, providing new parents with the option to return to work on a reduced schedule for up to four weeks before becoming full time again. They can reduce the number of hours worked in a day or the number of days in a work week to equal 50% to 75% capacity, helping to ease the transition back to work. 

Additionally, we are expanding our policy to cover more than base salary during the paid parental leave period. The intent of the new policy is to keep employees who are eligible for bonus or commissions financially whole.

Emma, PagerDuty Director of Commercial Operations, spent lots of quality time with Freddie, seen here sporting a “Future Dutonian” tee, while on BabyDuty recently!

Supporting Our Parents and Families

It takes a village to raise a child, so we are also increasing the size of employees’ communities. To help Dutonians manage the many demands that come with parenthood, they receive membership and access to benefits through Cleo.

Through Cleo, employees are paired with a dedicated specialist who supports their health, parenting, and career needs so they can navigate parental duties with less stress.

Time To Recharge  

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned through internal well-being surveys that our employees were feeling stressed and they didn’t have enough time for themselves outside of work to recharge.

In response, we quickly introduced Dutonian Wellness Days— scheduled company-wide paid days off in addition to other paid time-off (PTO) benefits and scheduled holidays—  for employees to unplug and enjoy time away from work. Company-wide time off is not new to PagerDuty. We learned years ago that there are significant benefits to the whole company taking time off at the same time through our corporate tradition, HibernationDuty. During HibernationDuty at the end of the year, employees enjoy a week off while the company runs with a small coverage team. During this time, employees fully disconnect without worrying about email or work piling up.

Since the introduction of the Wellness Days, we’ve seen our resilience scores (measured through frequent pulse checks) rise 25 points in favorability. Based on these results and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from employees, we invested in our employees’ wellness, making these changes a part of our culture.

Jon, PagerDuty Software Engineer, enjoyed a Wellness Day diving with friends!

Dutonians, Hannele, Logan, and Giselle, shared their Wellness Day plans in photos, highlighting our distributed environment with the mix of seasons and activities presented!

Easing Employees’ Financial Obligations

Compensation is important and personal to employees—even more so in these uncertain times. To assist with relieving additional pressure that may be associated with financial planning for the future, we increased our retirement match.

In the U.S. in 2022, we boosted our investment in employees’ 401k retirement plan matching contribution from 1% to 2%. Now, PagerDuty will match an employee’s 401k plan contributions up to 2% each pay period, as long as they contribute. For our Canadian employees, we are pleased to announce that we have increased the company matching contributions to the PagerDuty DPSP. Effective January 1, 2022, for every dollar of their eligible earnings contributed to the RRSP mandatory, PagerDuty will contribute $1 to the DPSP up to 2%. 

Additionally, on certain plan options we lowered deductibles and out-of-pocket health care cost maximums in the U.S. For our Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans, out-of-pocket maxes decreased between $500 to $1,000, depending on the plan and plan tier. Our High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) deductibles decreased between $300 to $600, depending on the plan tier, and includes an employer Health Savings Account (HSA) contribution of up to $225/month.

PagerDuty Highly Values its Employees

We appreciate the contributions our employees make to enhance our products and services every day. As we all move forward and new challenges arise, we will continue to listen to our employees and make strides to provide a world-class employee experience.