The company gained more fame and revenue once they crossed over from just providing DVD’s by mail, to allowing all of us binge-watch seasons of our favorite shows like “Orange Is The New Black”, “House of Cards” or even “Breaking Bad”. But now, the billion dollar company is giving it’s employees who have children time to binge-watch something else: their own kids!
The company announced that is giving its employees who are new mom or dads one year of paid time off. Yes, you read that right.
One full year. 365 days off…PAID.
In a recent company blog post, Tawni Cranz, the company’s Chief Talent Officer, explained how the new policy is directly in line with Netflix’s “freedom and responsibility culture.”
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“We want employees to have the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Parents can return part-time, full-time, or return and then go back out as needed. We’ll just keep paying them normally, eliminating the headache of switching to state or disability pay.”
The U.S. is the only developed country in the world without a federal policy ensuring new moms (not to mention dads) have paid time off. The only one!
But Netflix has always been…
…one to not go along with trends. The popular streaming company already guarantees unlimited vacation days for its workers. The new policy gives approval for new moms and dads to carve out whatever work-life balance structure works best for them.
Netflix is quick to point out that giving employees this benefit not necessarily a bad idea for a business’ bottom line–actually its good for business. When you think about it, if you had a job that gave you all this time off, why would you really want to go to another job that only gave you the standard 2 weeks a year? As Cranz explained in the company’s blog post, the new policy gives Netflix an advantage in “competing for and keeping the most talented individuals in their field.”
The only employees in the company that are not covered by the new parental leave policy are those who still work in the DVD division, but they still have access to all other great benefits.
You hear that employers? Paid time off: it’s a good idea (hint, hint).