Leave and Accommodations Employee Experience Report
We surveyed 2,000 employees about their recent experiences with leave and accommodations. Our findings reveal a workforce that is more informed, more comfortable asking for what it needs, and more diverse in its needs than ever before.
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Key Findings
Equally Comfortable
Taking Leave
Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers all report feeling comfortable requesting leave at nearly identical rates, hovering between 75% and 78%. The assumption that younger workers are driving the rise in leave requests doesn’t hold up. Every generation wants and expects support, which means leave programs need to be built to serve employees at every stage of life, not just the loudest or newest voices in the workforce.
Workforce Has
Multigenerational
Needs
The reasons employees take leave and the accommodations they request both shift significantly across age groups. Gen Z leads with mental health as the primary driver of leave, while Boomers are most likely to take time away for physical illness or caregiving. Gen X sits squarely in sandwich generation territory, with caregiving and surgery topping their list. Those same generational patterns carry into accommodations, with younger workers leaning toward flexible schedules and remote work, while Gen X and Boomers increasingly request specialized equipment and modified duties. A program built around one type of employee, or one type of need, will fall short for most of your workforce.
Are More Common
Than Most
Organizations Realize
Across both leave and accommodations, employees reported situations that signal serious legal exposure. Sixteen percent of leave takers reported lost hours, demotions, or terminations during or after leave. In accommodations, employees described retaliation, private medical details shared without consent, managers discouraging requests, and interactive processes that never happened at all. These are not isolated incidents. In any large workforce, these numbers represent real risk of complaints, investigations, and costly litigation.
If you want to understand the full employee perspective on leave and accommodations, including what went wrong, what went well, and what employees say would make the biggest difference, download the full 2026 Leave and Accommodations Employee Experience Report.
Gain Access to Exclusive Report Findings
For additional data and insights not included in the publicly available report, join The LeaveLab, our community for HR professionals. You can also join live events and view resources, videos, toolkits, guides, and more, all curated and expertly vetted for leave and accommodations professionals.
