96% returner retention at 24 months
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
Financial services ● ~9,000 UK employees UK
How Marsh McLennan retained 91% of returning parents two years on
Marsh McLennan partnered with Bright Horizons to deploy a combined Parental Leave Transitions and Back-Up Care programme across 9,000 UK employees. Two years on, returner retention has climbed from 64% to 91%, and the programme has paid back 3.6 times over.
Impact at a glance
3.6 ROI by year two
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
91% employee satisfaction
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
The challenge
Body copy By 2023, Marsh McLennan's UK People function had identified an attrition spike that didn't track with engagement scores, pay benchmarks, or career-progression data. The pattern was specific: women returning from maternity leave in client-facing senior consultant roles were leaving within 18 months of return, at nearly double the rate of their non-parent peers at the same grade.
The solution
Bright Horizons designed a two-stage programme structured around Marsh McLennan's specific retention pattern. Parental Leave Transitions provided 1-to-1 coaching for both returners and their direct managers, beginning at the announcement stage and continuing through the first six months back. Back-Up Care & Education provided same-day childcare and eldercare cover across the wider UK workforce to address the broader care-related absence trend.
Both services run on a single Work+Family Space platform login, with one consolidated reporting dashboard for the People team. Implementation took 8 weeks from contract to first booking.
The outcome
96% returner retention at 24 months
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
3.6 ROI by year two
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
91% employee satisfaction
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
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