Microsoft now has updated its paid leave policy for new mothers and fathers. On Tuesday, Netflix announced ‘unlimited’ time off for up to a year for new moms and dads.
Microsoft updates parental leave policy
Discussing the new policy on Wednesday, Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s Executive VP of Human Resources, wrote in a blog post, “12 weeks [of Parental Leave], paid at 100 percent, for all mothers and fathers of new children.” The updated policy will be effective from November 1, 2015. Microsoft said employees will have the option to take a full 12 week period off or split it in two-periods.
Hogan also cleared that birth mothers can also get an additional eight weeks of “maternity disability leave” with full pay. In addition, the birth mothers will also be allowed to make use of the short-term disability leave two-weeks prior to the due date.
“For these parents to bring their best every day, they need time to take care of themselves and their family.” Hogan said. Microsoft is eager to see employee’s feedback, which will help it in creating more familiar and generous environment to help employees focus on the work, thus contributing to an ongoing success for Microsoft.
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Presently, Microsoft grants eight weeks of fully paid maternity leave along with twelve weeks of parental leave for all parents. However, only four weeks of parental leave are fully paid, making it a bit unattractive, when compared to other Silicon Valley tech giants.
Google provides 18 weeks of paid leave to biological mothers, which extends up to 22 weeks in case of complications. The leave offered to the parents irrespective of their gender is up to 12 weeks of baby bonding time. Twitter offers 20 weeks of paid leave to the biological mothers and 10 weeks for new fathers, while Facebook provides $4,000 for every new child along with the four months of paid leave.
On Tuesday, Netflix updated its parental leave policy, allowing parents a paid leave of up to one year for a child’s birth or adoption. Employees will have the option to work for a while and return again to take advantage of their leave
These recent changes by tech firms mark a significant change in the thinking of U.S. businesses, which ranks last in a list of 38 countries in terms of government-supported parental leave, claims a 2013 Pew Research Center report.
