Nearly half of American workforce is women, yet the US is one of the very few countries in the world that does not have a federal law that requires paid maternity leave. Thus, it is up to the individual businesses to decide whether or not to provide the compensated maternity leave for new mothers. Because of this, getting maternity or parental leave remains one of the things that worry expecting parents.
On the other hand,Family Leave Laws in California is known to be one of the best in the US and is the only state to earn an “A” Grade from the National Partnership for Women and Families. So when it comes to California state maternity leave, it is not surprising thatmost organizations and companies here recognized that need for paid leave for new parents and offer benefit packages came from the said state.
The following technology giants with headquarters in California are the five best companies that offer maternity leave in the US.
1. Netflix
This TV and movie streaming giant with office headquarters at Los Gatos, California, announced this year that they would be offering unlimited maternity and paternity leave to its workers in the first year after child’s birth or adoption. In August 2015, Netflix was also one of the first companies to introduce a policy that allows full-time workers to receive up to full year of paid leave once they become parents. The said policy applies to both new mothers and fathers where they can file a leave, return to work and take more time off within the year, if needed. This is a paid leave where the employees are guaranteed of their full salary.
2. Twitter
Twitter, with office headquarters at San Francisco, California offers 20 weeks of paid parental leaves, regardless whether they had the child by birth or by adoption. Twitter VP Jeffrey Siminoff said in a statement that they want to lead by example and to influence the decision of other companies regarding the importance of primary caregiving providing parental leave.
3. Facebook
Facebook which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, has an office headquarter located at Menlo Park, California. This company provides four months of paid parental leave, regardless of gender or country of residence. Apart from the said parental leave, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has announced in 2017 that their employees will also have up to 20 days of paid leave to grieve an immediate family member, up to 10 days to grieve an extended family member and up to 6 weeks of paid leave to care for the sick.
4. Google
Google’s office headquarters can be found at Mountain View, California. Several years ago, this tech company has increased their parental leave from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, which resulted to a 50% decline in new mothers quitting their jobs.
5. Reddit
Located at San Francisco, California, also allows parents to take 16 weeks of paid leave in a minimum of two-week intervals in the first year after a birth or adoption.
This just show that California maternity leave options do not always end at the state and federally mandated laws and that the companies may have their own policies that are better than the government-mandated options.
About Author Lora Turner is Social worker, HR Consultant & Blogger at Leaveadvice.com.
