The Family Medical Leave Act requires companies give workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave. However, companies with less than 50 employees are exempt. For companies that are greater than 50 employees, only 12% of workers are offered paid leave. Recently, the upcoming tech company Etsy adopted a policy of 6 months paid parental leave. Tech companies appear to be adopting more favorable policies in an effort to attract top talent.
This is very interesting and a trend toward change based on the role of powerful females in the workplace is likely overdue. I am interested in the impact that long-term medical leave leaves on the team “left behind” and I am interested in what companies will innovate in this area to make sure that all employees are feeling taken care of and that team moral thrives in a new mother’s absence.
Here is another good example with Netflix giving unlimited parental leave.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/04/technology/netflix-parental-leave/