The generous policy was quickly followed by Microsoft’s announcement of paid parental leave of 12 weeks in addition to the eight weeks of maternity leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 only mandates employers provide job-protected leave for 12 weeks to take care of a child.
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The new benefit is on top of Netflix’s unlimited vacation policy, which allows employees to take as many days off as they want. The company suggests parents can come back to the office either part or full time, then go back out as necessary during the first year.
The success of the company depends on hiring and retaining talented employees, said Tawni Cranz, Chief Talent Officer at Netflix. If a company does offer paid leave, it’s usually about 12 weeks, or nothing close to what Netflix plans.
The Netflix policy far exceeds typical such leave at large U.S. corporations. Some have argued that a policy allowing employees as much time off as they want actually reduces the amount of time they wind up taking, because it makes workers feel guilty about staying away from the office.
“As we ask our employees to bring their “A” game to work every day to achieve our mission, we believe it’s our responsibility to create an environment where people can do their best work”, Hogan wrote. Paternity leave varies at each company while Facebook tops the charts with its 17-week policy.
According to a 2013 report from the Pew Research Center, Estonia offers the most paid time off for parental leave, about two years. They would earn their normal salary while on leave. Hogan said that outside the United States, “we will continue to review what’s offered in each country and work to align to our global benefits philosophy and the local regulations and dynamics in each market”. “Companies are moving away from hard and fast rules to whatever the employee and supervisor agree to is fine”. She said it would not be a significant cost for other employers to add several more weeks to their current paid leave.
Google, which consistently ranks among the best places to work, offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave.
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Only four states-California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island-currently have paid maternity leave that is publicly funded.
