Netflix has extended its generous parental benefits to hourly workers also. Now hourly workers in the streaming, DVD and customer-service divisions will be eligible for expanded parental benefits. They will be granted full pay for maternity or paternity leave, including adoptions as well.
Netflix expands perks to hourly employees
Netflix will grant hourly employees in its streaming operations as many as 16 weeks full pay for maternity, paternity and adoptions, the streaming firm mentioned in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. It is 12 weeks for DVD-by-mail while customer-service workers will get coverage for 14 weeks.
On Dec. 4, citing Chief Talent Officer Tawni Cruz, Workforce Magazine was the first to report Netflix’s plans to expand parental leave to part-time employees. The report said the company will allow four months of parental leave.
In a statement, the video streaming giant said it continuously looks for ways to improve, and this means that it reviews its policies and benefits on a regular basis to ensure that it is competitive and capable of attracting and retaining the best employees.
“This provides them both flexibility and stability at this exciting, yet challenging, time of their lives,” Netflix said.
There is a competition among tech companies to attract the best talent, and for this reason, tech employers such as Netflix and Amazon have increased the benefits they offer to new parents.
Narrowing gap between hourly and salaried workers
The gap between hourly employees and salaried streaming workers has narrowed with these added benefits. Salaried streaming workers were eligible for one year off as new parents and allowed to take any amount of vacation time as per their need. Previously, Netflix did not offer such perks to its hourly DVD workers and for this reason had to face criticism from advocacy groups which campaigned hard to bring about changes.
Coworker.org is one such group its campaigns director, Tim Newman said, “By joining together in advocating for change, Netflix employees and customers were able to persuade a major company to improve its paid parental leave benefits for hourly workers.”
Workers in the streaming and DVD units at Netflix received two-thirds pay for maternity disability, while workers in the customer service division got maternity covered at 60% of regular pay.
