Employees will have the opportunity for Microsoft to match their contributions up to US$9,000 per year.
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The company now provides eight weeks of fully paid maternity disability leave for new mothers, plus 12 weeks of parental leave for all parents of new children, of which four are paid and eight unpaid. The announcement came a day after Netflix trumpeted it offers unlimited paid maternity and paternity leave to all its employees.
“We’re competitive in this space in order to engage employees and retain them”, said Mike Scannell, senior vice president of global human resources for State Street.
“We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances”, wrote Tawni Cranz, Netflix’s chief talent officer, on the company’s blog. “Experience shows people perform better at work when they’re not worrying about home. This new policy, combined with our unlimited time off, allows employees to be supported during the changes in their lives and return to work more focused and dedicated”.
The transfer follows Netflix’s supply of as much as a yr of paid parental depart. “Nobody wants to be the company left behind”. That’s one less worry for these anxious new parents! The policy may also lead to a more balanced workplace. This is on top of the vacation leave that may accrue by employees. “I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to see that this is happening now, because when this movement first began we were trying to get people to think about these questions, let alone do something about them”. Taking this stance will hopefully encourage other companies (corporate or startup or tech or not) to do better.
“I absolutely take into consideration Scholastic’s maternity policy when planning the rest of my career”, Baden says.
“It’s not just a nice thing to do, it has a business payoff as well”, said Carol Sladek, a partner with the benefits consultant Aon Hewitt.
Google has reported that after it higher its paid pregnancy leave from 12 to 18 days, the velocity of new homemakers adding cut in half.
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Federal law requires only unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. But to avoid having the employee saying the work was imposed on them (which could lead to potential claims), it would be better if the proposal to do work comes from the employee, not management.
