Employment
By Vicky Valet
W
When Lindsay Zoeller found out she was pregnant with her first child in February 2020, visions of a maternity leave spent in mommy-and-me yoga classes danced in her head. Nine months later, she and her husband, Alex Leininger, who both work at Booz Allen Hamilton, welcomed a son. Though the Covid19 pandemic dashed some postpartum plans, it F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
didn’t diminish the feeling of support that she got from the McLean, Virginia-based consulting firm. Along with 14 weeks of parental leave and an extra $2,000 deposited into her flexible spending account for childcare, Zoeller was encouraged to work part-time to ease her transition back to work. Her husband was afforded that same opportunity and six weeks of leave. “It’s one thing to say that you have a parental leave policy and that fathers can also take leave to help a mother who is recovering, but it’s entirely different to work somewhere that encourages
ILLUSTRATION BY CRISTIANA COUCEIRO
LEADERBOARD
18
Meet America’s Best Employers For Women 2021
AUGUST 2021
