SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submission Preview
Differing Views about Netflix's New Parental Leave Policy
On Tuesday, August 4th, Neflix announced on their blog [netflix.com] that they would begin offering new parents a progressive parental leave policy:
…Today we’re introducing an unlimited leave policy for new moms and dads that allows them to take off as much time as they want during the first year after a child’s birth or adoption.
The Boston Globe picked up the story [bostonglobe.com] earlier today and compared Netflix's new policy to Google's, which offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of “baby bonding” time. The Boston Globe also notes:
The US and Papua New Guinea are the only countries among 185 nations and territories that hadn’t imposed government-mandated laws requiring employers to pay mothers while on leave with their babies, according to a study released last year by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.
This new policy “covers all of the roughly 2,000 people working at [Netflix's] Internet video and DVD-by-mail services, according to the Los Gatos, California, company.”
However, not all media voices are pleased with this change. Suzanne Venker, author of the recent book The Two-Income Trap: Why Parents Are Choosing To Stay Home [barnesandnoble.com], writes for Time [time.com]:
Offering new parents full pay for up to one year is akin to putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. The needs of children are huge, and they do not end at one year. On the contrary, they just begin. Taking a year off of work to meet those needs merely scratches the surface.
What does Soylent think? Should companies offer new parents lengthy paid leave after they bring a new bundle of joy into the world, or do generous policies do more harm than good?
