Another Big Company Steps Up To Improve Maternity Leave
This article originally published on The Huffington Post
Nestlé just announced it will expand maternity leave benefits for workers globally, the latest signal that -- finally -- the corporate world is coming around to the idea of generous paid parental leave.
On Friday, the multinational corporation announced it would offer 14 weeks of paid leave for primary caretakers, longer than most of its competitors and up from just six weeks. Parents can also take 12 more weeks of unpaid leave. The company, which employs 339,000 people in 197 countries, will offer one paid week of paternity leave to new fathers who are not primary caretakers as well. The policy will go into effect starting next year.
The change will radically benefit Nestle's 51,000 U.S. employees. “This is a huge difference in our current policy," Judy Cascapera, the chief people officer at Nestlé USA, told The Huffington Post. Nestlé also announced flexible working arrangements to allow a new parent to phase back into work.
