Leave it to a Sweden-based company to unveil a jaw-dropping parental leave policy.
Music streaming service Spotify announced yesterday that it will be offering six months of paid leave to all full-time employees globally. Not only is the policy effective immediately, it’s effective retroactively.
As long as their children were born after Jan. 1, 2013, new parents of any kind — including those who adopt and use surrogates — are eligible for leave for the first three years of a child’s life. And how they use it is up to them; taking it all at once or breaking it up into chunks.
“I think we can be a role model,” CEO Daniel Ek said.
While The Huffington Post reports Spotify employees are not guaranteed their exact former position once they return to work, the transition back is designed to be a smooth one, involving options like working from home, working part time, or working flexible hours.
“This policy best defines who we are as a company, born out of a Swedish culture that places an emphasis on a healthy work/family balance, gender equality, and the ability for every parent to spend quality time with the people that matter most in their lives,” Spotify’s chief human resource officer Katarina Berg wrote in a statement posted on the company’s blog.
Welcome to the club, Spotify! The company joins the ranks of other tech giants that have stepped up their parental leave policy game, including Netflix, Amazon, Adobe and Microsoft.
Navigate forward to interact with the calendar and select a date. Press the question mark key to get the keyboard shortcuts for changing dates.
