The (very welcome) Silicon Valley trend of increasing paid leave continues with a little company called eBay.
Following in the footsteps of other tech companies like Netflix, Microsoft, and, most recently, Facebook, the e-commerce giant has on Friday announced changes to its parental, maternal, and disability leave policies.
These changes, going into effect on January 1, 2016, include two brand-new policies for U.S. employees:
1. Paid parental leave: All employees will receive 12 weeks of 100% paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child.
2. Paid family leave: All employees will receive 12 weeks of 100% paid leave to take care of a sick family member.
In both cases, the leave may be taken consecutively, or at the discretion of the employee over the course of one year.
In addition to the added policies, eBay has also tweaked its existing maternal leave and disability benefits. Leave for birth mothers has been increased from a maximum of 10 weeks at 80% base pay to 24 weeks at 100% base pay. Disability leave has been increased from 80% base pay for the duration of the disability to 100% base pay for the first 12 weeks of disability and 80% of base pay thereafter.
Outside of the U.S., eBay (EBAY) will be providing two weeks of paid time off for new parents, if not already available.