The CEO Who Took 12 Weeks Off When His Son was Born

“If a dad doesn’t take it or isn’t offered it, he’s tired. He’s distracted. He’s probably making bad decisions for the business, and he’s feeling guilty he’s not at home,” Mycoskie told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Sunday. He added that he wanted to set an example for his employees. Toms Shoes offers new parents at least eight weeks paid time off. It adopted the policy several years ago, but Mycoskie said he noticed that some new dads feared that taking time off would hurt their careers. (Fox 40 News)

Netflix made headlines earlier this month when they announced they’d be providing employees with unlimited maternity and paternity leave during the first year of a new child’s life. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the new policy only applies to their web-based employees. Netflix employees who work in their DVD-by-mail division have been excluded from their updated parental leave policy, according to the Associated Press. Online petitions have popped up in response, asking the company to extend the benefit to their DVD workers, which include about 450 full-time, part-time and temporary employees. (Jezebel)

GOP presidential contender Carly Fiorina said on Sunday that she opposes changing federal law to require companies to provide paid maternity leave. Her position is at odds with the policies of virtually every developed country on Earth and considerably worse than the maternity leave policy in war-torn Afghanistan. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides 12 weeks of leave for the birth of a child and other needs, but it does not require wage compensation. In addition, employees who have worked at a company for less than a year are not covered. (Huffington Post)

As companies work through the struggles of finding the best employees and being able to keep them long-term, this is one policy companies find that they need to closely consider the return.