As reported by The Seattle Times, this means that for the first time new dads at the company will be able to take time off following the birth (or adoption) of a child.The news comes just months after other tech giants, most notably Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix, announced improved parental leave plans for their employees. Amazon, meanwhile, has faced public scrutiny over how it treats its employees following a scathing New York Times investigation that called its work culture into question. (Amazon and the Times later engaged in a very public back-and-forth over the fairness and accuracy of the story.)
Following the Times investigation, former Amazon employee Julia Cheiffetz publicly called for the company to reevaluate its parental leave policies, claiming she was effectively forced out following her maternity leave and cancer diagnosis.
As Amazon heads into the holiday season—and kicks off Black Friday deals, well, now—it may be anxious to motivate its employees, who will undoubtedly be hard at work as the company enters the busiest shopping season of the year. Notably, Amazon's policy appears not to apply just to high-end tech workers and executives, but more than 100,000 fulfillment center and customer service workers.
Amazon may also be hoping to contain any damage that the Times story did to its public image. It will need to keep shoppers (and future prospective hires) happy, and it certainly doesn't hurt if they feel good about how the company seems to treat new parents.
No matter the motive, improved parental leave policies are good for new parents and their children. But as we've written before, experts say that it's not enough for a company to have such policies in place. It also needs to have the supportive environment where employees are comfortable to take the time off that they need, knowing that they'll be able to come back and pick up where they've left off.
Comment: We'd like to welcome Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix to the 21st century. According to Wikipedia, "In 2014, the International Labor Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories, and found that all countries except two (the USA and Papau New Guinea) have laws mandating leave; laws vary in whether leave is paid by the employer or through social security." So while the USA still has no law requiring paternal leave, it appears some of the larger companies are now instituting their own policies, quite possibly only to avoid bad public relations, which of course hampers their profits.