Hallelujah! IKEA’s US division has announced plans to offer expanded paid parental leave to its 13,000 employees. Like Netflix and LinkedIn before it, it seems the furniture giant best known for its confusing assembly instructions and Swedish meatballs has realized that employees are humans, and as such, deserve a healthy dose of paid parental leave.
According to NBC News, effective January 1, the company will offer all its employees–mothers and fathers, salaried and hourly–up to four months of paid leave. The policy applies to birth, adoptive, and foster parents. Previously, only women giving birth were offered five days (DAYS!) of paid leave, in addition to 6-8 weeks of paid disability leave. Needless to say, this new policy is a huge improvement.
As we all know, paid maternity and paternity leave in the US is nothing to write home about, so it’s very encouraging to see more and more major companies putting better policies in place for their employees.
So let’s all grab our loved ones, spend hours searching for the perfect bookshelf while screaming at said loved ones, and feel good knowing that at least some corporations take their employees’ best interests to heart. Don’t forget to grab a cinnamon bun on your way out.
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