Netflix leads way on maternity leave

Netflix is giving new parents on its payroll up to a year of paid leave in a move that could pressure other technology employers to improve their baby benefits as they vie for talent.

The employee benefit announced on Netflix’s blog is generous even by the high standards of Silicon Valley, where free meals and other perquisites supplement lavish salaries in the fiercely competitive battle for computer programmers and other technology workers.

“Netflix’s continued success hinges on us competing for and keeping the most talented individuals in their field,” Tawni Cranz, said the company’s chief talent officer. “Experience shows people perform better at work when they’re not worrying about home.”

Google, which consistently ranks among the best places to work, offers 18 weeks of paid maternity leave. Parents can also take seven to 12 weeks of paid “baby bonding” time during their child’s first year.

The US and Papua New Guinea are the only countries among 185 nations and territories that hadn’t imposed government-mandated laws requiring employers to pay mothers while on leave with their babies, according to a study released last year by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation.

Netflix’s baby-benefit policy covers all of the roughly 2,000 people working at its Internet video and DVD-by-mail services, according to the Los Gatos, California, company.