Flexibility is the word of the month with last week’s news about Netflix’s new “unlimited” parental leave policy. While the U.S. still trails the rest of the globe when it comes to family-friendly work policies, the tech giant’s decision to offer full pay to employees in the first year after the birth or adoption of a child is one that’s widely considered to be a game changer. It’s one of the most generous parental leave policies in the nation to date, particularly among large employers.
“Considering that few companies offer any paid parental leave, and that the average among even the 2014 100 Best Companies [for working mothers] is seven weeks fully paid, hearing about a company offering unlimited fully paid leave is heartening and exciting for working parents,” says Jennifer Owens, editorial director of Working Mother Media. “We support this progress and also the increased visibility of the issue. More and more companies seem to understand that moms (and dads) are valuable employees that they can’t afford to lose, and that having kids is a reasonable thing for even the most committed employees to do. Accommodating parenthood isn’t a nice thing to do — it’s an essential thing to do if you want to have a diverse, experienced, effective workforce.”
Evidence of a ripple effect in the tech industry is already appearing. On the heels of the Netflix news, Microsoft announced that it also plans to boost its parental benefits for both new moms and new dads by expanding its paternal leave to 12 weeks fully paid at 100 percent. (Previously, eight of the weeks were unpaid). What’s more, birth mothers at Microsoft are now entitled to take up to 20 weeks of fully paid leave when factoring in the additional eight weeks of maternity disability leave that the company currently provides.
Technology isn’t the only industry making changes. Earlier in the year, Blackstone, the largest private equity firm in the world, added four more weeks to its maternity leave benefits, giving women full pay for 16 weeks instead of the 12 weeks that some other private equity companies offer.
Why are these changes so groundbreaking to working families? The newly released 2015 Cost of Care Survey from Care.com found that 28 percent of parents spend over $20,000 per year on child care services. The research also found that 69 percent of parents say the cost of child care has influenced their career decisions, resulting in changing jobs for better family benefits or even taking on an additional job. Nearly 90 percent of working parents wish their employer offered child care benefits, yet 81 percent said their employer doesn’t offer any.
According to the survey, national average weekly rates to put two kids in day care are astronomically high at $341.21, and even more ($488 weekly) for two kids with a nanny. Additionally, while child care is the biggest annual expense for most families, nearly 40 percent of parents don’t budget for it. Among those who do, 59 percent don’t start budgeting for child care until after the baby arrives, according to Care.com. A large majority (89 percent) of parents say just thinking about the cost of child care makes them stressed. That stress takes a toll on their relationships, with around 1 in 4 (24 percent) parents saying they fight with their partner about child care costs. Despite all of this, around one quarter of parents (26 percent) would put themselves in debt or further debt to pay for child care.
Netflix’s decision is a step in the right direction to help start to mitigate these troublesome issues that affect families across the country. Owens notes, though, that while there’s a lot of forward momentum around this issue, with several states and cities mandating paid leave and with forward-thinking companies grabbing headlines with generous new policies, simply announcing a great new leave policy isn’t enough. “If employees worry that they’ll look like slackers by taking leave, they won’t do it,” she says. “Top-level executives have to be role models and take advantage of the policy, and the colleagues of employees taking time off shouldn’t be left to pick up all the slack without support, or they’ll become resentful.”
She added that making parental leave truly work is a matter of ensuring that the company’s culture matches its policies. “Companies have to make sure employees know that they’re serious, and that taking the offered leave won’t be held against them,” Owens says. “And they need to make sure that co-workers of the person on leave receive the support they need to continue getting the work done without the new parent in the office.”
Robin Madell has spent over two decades as a corporate writer, journalist, and communications consultant on business, leadership and career issues. She serves as a copywriter, speechwriter and ghostwriter for executives and entrepreneurs across diverse industries, including finance, technology, healthcare, law, real estate, advertising and marketing. Robin has interviewed over 1,000 thought leaders around the globe and has won 20 awards for editorial excellence. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in both New York and San Francisco, and contributed to the book “Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success,” published by Random House. Robin is also the author of “Surviving Your Thirties: Americans Talk About Life After 30” and co-author of “The Strong Principles: Career Success.” Connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter: @robinmadell.
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Netflix Provides Breakthrough for Working Parents in America originally appeared on usnews.com
