Marissa Mayer famously took only minimal time off following the birth of her first child last year, but the Yahoo CEO has defied her own example, announcing a new paid parental leave policy for Yahoo employees that will see the company’s maternity leave allowance doubled.
Under the new policy, new mothers who give birth are eligible for up to 16 weeks paid maternity leave. New fathers receive up to eight weeks paid leave. New parents will also receive an additional $500 to cover the cost of necessities.
Mayer took centre stage on gender equality in the workplace after announcing she was seven months pregnant shortly after Yahoo appointed her as its new CEO. She returned to work two weeks after giving birth.
She also came under fire in recent months for what many see as an inability to relate to the juggle of family and career, by putting a ban on Yahoo’s long-held tradition of telecommunicating and working from home.
While paid parental leave laws are not uniform across the US, the state of California — where Yahoo is based — partially pays a wage for a new mother for a period up to six weeks, and women can take up to seven months unpaid leave following the birth of a child.
The new policy will bring Yahoo closer to the benefits offered by other Silicon Valley tech empires.
Google offers 22 weeks paid parental leave to new mothers and seven weeks to fathers, adoptive parents and same-sex partners, while Facebook currently offers four months paid leave to both mothers and fathers (including adopting parents and same-sex couples) and offers $4000 in “baby cash”.