Mark Zuckerberg's paternity leave: Is tech industry setting a new standard?
Facebook, Netflix, and other tech companies have been at the forefront of instituting family-friendly polices that encourage both mothers and fathers to take time off work after a new born.聽
Facebook, Netflix, and other tech companies have been at the forefront of instituting family-friendly polices that encourage both mothers and fathers to take time off work after a new born.聽
In what is seen by many as an exemplary move for working parents in the United States, Mark Zuckerberg, the chairman and CEO of Facebook, has announced that he will take two months off from work after the birth of his daughter
Mr. Zuckerberg, and wife Priscilla Chan, announced in July that they were expecting their first child.
"Priscilla and I are starting to get ready for our daughter's arrival. We've been picking out our favorite childhood books and toys," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. "We've also been thinking about how we're going to take time off during the first months of her life. This is a very personal decision, and I've decided to take 2 months of paternity leave when our daughter arrives."
Zuckerberg's high-profile choice highlights the parenthood perks being offered by US tech companies as well as the larger debate in corporate America regarding family-friendly policies.聽
Susan Wojcicki, CEO of Alphabet Inc., YouTube鈥檚 parent company, has been a vocal advocate of extensive family benefits in workplaces, which she says bolsters business performances.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal late last year, Ms.聽Wojcicki wrote:
As it stands now, just 12 percent of private workers and 5 percent of low-income workers in the US have access to any form of parental leave, Wojcicki notes.
In recent years, high-tech companies have been blazing the trail when it comes to family-friendly policies.
In August, Netflix announced that it will offer new mothers and fathers as much time off as they want during the first year after a child鈥檚 birth or adoption.
Facebook employees in the US are allowed up to four months of paid parental leave, which they can take all at once or throughout the year.
The US Navy too, recently announced plans to increase paid maternity leave to 18 weeks. This is three times the amount that women in these two military branches were able to have before.
In the US, it's corporations and not the federal or state government that have been pushing the boundaries of parental time off.聽The US lags far behind other developed countries in not offering government-funded paid maternity leave. In fact, the US is currently one of two nations in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave; the other nation is Papua New Guinea.
After Netflix announced up to a year of maternity or paternity leave, many hailed it as progress. But Harvard professor Robert Reich wasn't as enthusiastic. He wrote:
In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg points out that studies that "when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families."