Etsy continues its support of women by introducing a six-month paid parental leave policy for employees who’ve given birth or welcomed a new child through surrogacy or adoption. Don’t you love the tech companies that are shaming the rest of America’s businesses with stellar leave options?
The online independent designer site—that’s long been invested in its woman engineers—remains on the upswing, according to The Cut. In a blog post entitled “Strong Families, Strong Business: A Step Forward in Parental Leave at Etsy,” the company’s director of culture and engagement Juliet Gorman announced the new policy for 26-weeks paid leave will begin in April and applies to all employees, both in America and abroad. Etsy has just under a dozen offices around the world.
We want to support and enable parents, regardless of their gender, to play equal roles in building successful companies and nurturing their families.
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This is a policy that our leadership team unanimously supports. We believe that what’s good for families is good for business. “When my wife and I adopted our son nearly four years ago, I took the full five weeks of leave we offered at the time,” says Chad Dickerson, Etsy CEO. “It was the most important way I could have spent that time. Building a company is a team effort that includes the immense support we get from our families. I’m excited that our new leave policy will strengthen families and, as a result, the company as a whole.”
This announcement comes on the heels of a number of tech outfits from Netflix to Spotify one-upping each other with more and more expansive parental leave programs. Perhaps America will one day reach Sweden’s level of parental support, which translates to about a year and a half of time for parents to bond with your baby. Keep parental leave shaming!
Contact the author at Hillary@jezebel.com.
Image via Etsy.