Spotify is doing its part to help new parents achieve a healthy work-family balance by offering its workers one of the most generous and flexible parental leave policies in the United States.
Effective immediately, Spotify is offering its full-time workers up to six full months of paid parental leave. New moms and dads, which include same-sex couples and those who adopt or use a surrogate, can take their paid leave until a child turns 3. Spotify is making the policy retroactive, so employees who’ve had children since 2013 are eligible.
The Sweden-based music streaming company is also implementing flexible options for the first month that new parents are transitioning back to work, including part-time hours and a work-from-home option.
“This policy best defines who we are as a company, born out of a Swedish culture that places an emphasis on a healthy work/family balance, gender equality and the ability for every parent to spend quality time with the people that matter most in their lives,” Spotify chief human resources officer Katarina Berg said in a press release.
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett attended Spotify’s meeting announcing its new leave policy, according to The Huffington Post. Jarrett said the administration is pushing for paid leave for American workers.
“The fact that the U.S. is the only developed country without a paid leave policy doesn’t make sense,” Jarrett said, emphasizing that leave increases worker productivity and even profitability. “We really want to have a culture in our country where you can be a working parent and be productive at work.”
According to the Department of Labor, just 12 percent of workers in the private sector workforce have access to paid family leave. Check out #LeadOnLeave to see how some cities, states and businesses across the United States are successfully implementing paid leave policies for their workers.
Spotify is one of several companies, including Amazon, Netflix, Adobe and Microsoft, that have upped their parental leave policies in 2015.
Could this be the beginning of a new trend? I would love to see paid parental leave policies implemented in the workplace.
What does your employer offer for parental leave? What do you think of Spotify’s new policy? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.
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