Parental leave in the United States has been a hot issue in the past year.
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Netflix is now offering a massive new benefit for new parents that will likely change the way Silicon Valley treats moms and dads. This removes any confusion and employees can be happy that the company is supportive.
The US is the only nation in the developed world not to mandate paid maternity leave for workers. Following the birth, almost four months of leaves are offered.
The crux of it is that the US is seriously lagging in this area.
“Netflix’s continued success hinges on us competing for and keeping the most talented individuals in their field”, Netflix’s chief talent officer Tawni Cranz said in a blog announcement.
As a part of the strategy to retain staff, Netflix has announced that it would allow parents to take time-off from work for as long as they want under the company’s new policies that have just been revealed.
“Each employee gets to figure out what’s best for them and their family, and then works with their managers for coverage during their absences”, Ms Cranz said. Plus, they’ll be able to return to work part-time or full-time, and they may also come back and then take additional time off, if needed. “We’ll just keep paying them normally, eliminating the headache of switching to state or disability pay”, she added.
Other critics say that having unlimited time off can make employees feel guilty for the time they do take because they fear resentment from other employees. At the Hacker Lab in Sacramento, Bryan Barton, who works out of the co-working space, said he thinks companies use parental leave as a way to draw in new employees. But it does not show that all companies can afford Netflix’s generosity.
This comes as Netflix announced it is offering paid leave for up to one year. It also has a solid day care scheme and (controversially) has programmes for egg freezing, surrogacy and sperm donation. Among those in the survey is Twitter, which offers 20 weeks of paid leave to mothers and Google, which offers mothers up to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave (or up to 22 weeks if there were complications at birth). Shares in the company rose to a new high Tuesday, at $122.79, according to the New York Times.
I would definitely say this is contagious, she said.
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Another tricky situation McDermott noted is when an employee is away on parental leave or another form of leave and the company experiences a reduction in force.
