(NASDAQ:NFLX) announced ‘unlimited’ time off for up to a year for new moms and dads. However, this type of open philosophy on leave comes with potential downsides.
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However, Netflix is not the first major company to offer progressive packages for parental leave. Certainly Netflix and Microsoft are thinking of their bottom line, but they also seem to realize that their employees are people, not just cogs.
“This is what we’ve been pounding on for the past 25-plus years”, he says.
Facebook: 17 weeks of paid leave for all new parents, which can be used at any time during the first year.
This idea has not been lost on other businesses in the U.S. Many companies are beginning to realize that offering flexibility and more incentives is a good way of attracting skilled workers. Not everyone thinks so. Worth noting here: Netflix has long had an unlimited vacation policy. One is whether an unlimited policy fundamentally fits. “It’s a recognition that looking after your employees and financial growth aren’t mutually exclusive, but mutually dependent”. “Do you have an employee population that is self-motivated and that you can measure objectively?” However, it was unpaid time off. I saved all my vacation and sick hours and used those during my leave so I could at least collect a partial paycheck.
When crafting their policy, employers need to consider what limitations they want to set regarding leave.
While he expects Netflix will deal with challenges around employees that take either too much or too little of the benefit to the detriment of the company, he’s optimistic about the direction the company is taking and what it means for all American companies.
Parents can return to work part-time, full-time or go back to work as needed, the company said. But not all companies will necessarily want to do that. “I realize working for an employer is completely voluntary, but out of necessity, I took this job, which doesn’t offer maternity leave”. “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”. One must ask, however: Isn’t the cost of ultimately losing and replacing talented employees who can and will move to companies with family-supportive policies even more expensive? Netflix will now provide new parents who have given birth or adopted a child up to a year of paid leave. Instead, state workers must use leave credits or disability insurance to fill in all or part of their wages while tending to their new family member. If he does decide to take a considerable amount of leave, perhaps it’ll serve as an aspirational example for working dads around the country.
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The state’s paid family leave law, by comparison, pays roughly 55 percent of wages for up to six weeks within a 12-month period.
