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Rx for Rest: A Pharmacist’s Guide to Parental Leave & PTO

Returning to work after having a baby brings a lot of emotions. This month’s story focuses on the positive emotions brought on by a company’s parental leave policy. At the time of publishing, the 2025 Pharmacist Compensation database contains data from 1,224 full-time pharmacists. Quick plug - each graph and newsletter starts with you. Join thousands of pharmacists shaping the data - click the button below to take the survey.

The majority (65.1%) of survey participants reported their company has a parental leave policy and only 14.1% reported no parental leave policy at all. The last 20.8% did not know if their company offered a parental leave benefit. Let’s assume those participants are in a stage in life where this potential benefit does not matter enough for them to track.

Occasionally, a company might require paid time off (PTO) to be utilized in some fashion along with the parental leave policy. If you’re lucky, you can combine both benefits to extend your time off work. Over 63% of participants report at least 20 days of PTO. There were even 22 pharmacists who reported unlimited PTO. Must be nice!

Of course, not every pharmacy sector is created equal. The six areas of pharmacy displayed in the below chart represent ~83% of the survey participants. Unfortunately, it should be no surprise retail participants report more difficulty than other areas. On a brighter note, the other five areas had greater than 50% of pharmacists report their PTO was easy or very easy to schedule.

The data shows most pharmacists have access to parental leave and PTO, which is great for new parents. While some sectors face more challenges than others, the takeaway remains the same. Know your company’s policies, understand how to utilize your benefits like PTO or parental leave, and use the time you've earned. Your career is important, but your family comes first.

_{Pharmacist Compensation provided the data displayed in the above charts. Join thousands of pharmacists and take the anonymous survey. All participants receive access to an interactive dashboard that can be filtered by Job Title, Company, Area of Pharmacy, and more.}

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