- Google announced extension in parental leave and caregiver leave as well as paid vacation time.
- Changes will apply to full-time employees globally.
Google has increased parental leave and has offered additional vacation time as an addition to the overhaul of its employee benefits.
The company has announced on Thursday that it has extended the parental leave to 18 weeks for all parents, previously it was 12 weeks and 24 weeks for parents who give birth, previously it was 18 weeks. Starting from April 2, the company is also going to let employees take up to eight weeks of caregiver leave, which is double its previous allowance.
More Paid Vacations For Google Employees
It is also increasing employees’ minimum paid vacation time to 20 days a year, from 15 days, starting from April 2. A Google spokesperson said that all these changes will apply to full-time employees globally.
Google has long been seen as a leader in employee benefits, especially when it comes to parental leave. However, remote work has taken away free food and other in-office perks employees have enjoyed so the company has had to search for other ways to retain their talented employees and also to prevent burnout.
Google’s annual employee survey last year showed a decline in reported well-being. This has prompted the company to roll out increased benefits, including more companywide days off and employee bonuses, jokingly referred by employees as “Sundar days” and “Sundar dollars” in reference to CEO Sundar Pichai.
Parental Leaves Increased
“More than 40% of our employees are in the ‘sandwich generation,’ where they might find themselves both bringing up their children and caring for aging family members,” Fiona Cicconi, Google’s chief people officer, said in an email statement on Thursday.
Google wants to support their employees at every stage of their lives and this means providing extraordinary benefits, so they can spend more time with their new baby, look after a sick loved one or take care of their own wellbeing, Cicconi said. They are announcing increases to their global leave benefits to ensure that parents and caregivers have more time to spend with their families and loved ones, and to encourage all Googlers to take more time for themselves, too, added Cicconi.