Apple Announces Expanded Employee Benefits for New Parents

[fishmongerer]

Apple today announced a new employee benefit that's designed to ease the transition back to work for new parents, expanding on the 16 weeks of leave that parents are already provided with an additional four-week grace period.

Apple's head of retail and human resources shared details on the changes with Fast Company.

Apple's new policy will give parents a four-week period after returning from leave where they'll be paid like full-time employees but will have the flexibility to work part-time or set their own hours with a manager's oversight.

The updated transition period will be available to all new parents, including those who adopt or take in foster children (non-birth parents are allowed six weeks of paid leave rather than 16). Retail workers are also able to take advantage of the parental leave changes.

Along with the new transition period, Apple is expanding leave for adoptive parents by four weeks through a Paid Family Care benefit that lets parents take time off for family illness. Apple is also tripling its financial assistance for families that choose to adopt, providing up to $14,000 towards an adoption.

For all employees, Apple is improving its mental wellness benefits and will double the number of free counseling sessions available to employees per year along with providing telemedicine options.

According to O'Brien, Apple is hoping to make it easier for parents to ultimately return to work after a period of leave. "I think many times working parents feel like they need to deal with that quietly and make it seem perfectly seamless," O'Brien told Fast Company. "We all know life is complicated. So [we're] making it really clear that we're supporting them in that journey."

Article Link: Apple Announces Expanded Employee Benefits for New Parents

Meanwhile, contractors in janitorial, security, etc, make $12 an hour and live in poverty.

 

[bbeagle]

Why should the standard be that having a baby means your fellow employees need to pick up your slack and your employer needs to keep paying you to do nothing?

You need to stop thinking that way.

Why should companies allow employees to take holidays, or have vacation or sick time? Those are all times where your employer is paying you to do nothing.

People's lives should matter. But Americans are accustomed to think of the business interests over their own.

 

[Gasu E.]

I am a parent and probably one of the biggest fans of people having children in the world. On average I took off 2-3 days for my children. Why should the standard be that having a baby means your fellow employees need to pick up your slack and your employer needs to keep paying you to do nothing? This is great for Apple but if I were single I would be upset that the wonder and joy of someone having a child means my job is all screwed up? If your company can handle that great - but that would destroy my company so I don’t want that to be the standard.

Yeah, you don't really want to find yourself living in a country with a shrinking population. Countries in that position find themselves with a disproportionate percentage of aged, unproductive people and a shrinking share of younger people who can drive the economy. So, in a slow or no growth nation, having children is a social good; and encouraging people to undertake a social good is the least we can do, especially given all the costs, direct and indirect. Sure there are other ways to solve the problem-- immigration, which I'm sure the readership of MacRumors appears to love (sarcasm intended); or Soylent Green (but remember, that will be YOU in a few decades-- yum!). Most developed nations need more babies, or more immigration, or both to keep the country from entering a death spiral. Choose at least one.

 

[citysnaps]

Excellent news. Good on Apple!

 

[Poncho]

You can get up to 60 months maternity leave in Croatia if one parent uses all the leave.

 

[Deadeyeshark]

I am a parent and probably one of the biggest fans of people having children in the world. On average I took off 2-3 days for my children. Why should the standard be that having a baby means your fellow employees need to pick up your slack and your employer needs to keep paying you to do nothing? This is great for Apple but if I were single I would be upset that the wonder and joy of someone having a child means my job is all screwed up? If your company can handle that great - but that would destroy my company so I don’t want that to be the standard.

39 weeks paid leave in the UK, also retaining all of the same benefits as their colleagues such as holiday entitlement, pay increases etc. The employer claims back 92% of the cost back from the government. The system works really well.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Also note that most people working at Apple aren't employees.

H1B and temp slave labor.

Silicon Valley has always used a large temporary workforce, though H1B workers are typically permanent.

Does Apple have more H1B or temp workers than the other large tech companies?

 

[kirk.vino]

You’d be amazed to see some of the hot takes I’ve seen just skimming comment threads regarding parental benefits from American employers. Many just won’t do jack **** unless it’s required by law.

Most US companies offer the bare minimum required by law. Otherwise, it impacts their profits. I’m in HR, so I know what I’m talking about.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Meanwhile, contractors in janitorial, security, etc, make $12 an hour and live in poverty.

Not at the spaceship campus, $15/hr minimum wage there

 

[kirk.vino]

Also note that most people working at Apple aren't employees.

H1B and temp slave labor.

H1B is a visa type. It means you can legally work in the US.
There are only 2 ways to legally work in the US: as a “W-2 Employee” or as a “1099 independent” consultant (Corp-to-Corp). You can be an employee as a temp or if you have an H1B visa. As a matter of fact, I can tell you that nowadays most US companies are pressured to hire their workers as employees. Especially, California recently has passed the so-called ABC test that determines if your “independent” corp-to-corp worker is really independent. Based on that test they can easily force you to re-hire/re-classify and treat your worker as an employee.

 

[stevet]

You need to stop thinking that way.

Why should companies allow employees to take holidays, or have vacation or sick time? Those are all times where your employer is paying you to do nothing.

People's lives should matter. But Americans are accustomed to think of the business interests over their own.

First - Just because you don't think that way doesn't mean everyone has to conform to your thinking.

Second - All the examples you used are shared for all employees, not just crotch fruit bearing people. Companies don't hire people to take those on leave's place while they are out. Other people pick up the slack without proper compensation. If you want to have children that's fine, but 1/2 the pay should be given to the people picking up the slack.

 

[konqerror]

though H1B workers are permanent

H-1B is temporary. It allows 3 years of stay, which can be extended to 6 years by application. You can apply for an immigrant visa during that time, otherwise you must leave the US for a year before you qualify for a new H-1B.

 

[PickUrPoison]

First - Just because you don't think that way doesn't mean everyone has to conform to your thinking.

Second - All the examples you used are shared for all employees, not just crotch fruit bearing people. Companies don't hire people to take those on leave's place while they are out. Other people pick up the slack without proper compensation. If you want to have children that's fine, but 1/2 the pay should be given to the people picking up the slack.

Society as a whole has an interest in the health of children, whether you personally have any or not. Deal with it.

Apple’s doing the right thing.

 

[DoctorTech]

I'm happy for the Apple employees who will benefit from this new policy. Taking good care of your employees pays big dividends in lower turnover and increased morale. Apple is setting a great example.

 

[JCCL]

In my company we recently got 6 months of parental leave, which is great, and you can split it over the course of a year

 

[Stella]

Maybe not in the States, but else where in the world, companies certainly do find temporary replacements.

Second - All the examples you used are shared for all employees, not just crotch fruit bearing people. Companies don't hire people to take those on leave's place while they are out.

 

[mikethemartian]

It’s probably the old parents with teenagers that really need the help.

 

[robjulo]

Good luck being in management and taking advantage of this.....let me know how future promotions work out.

 

[konqerror]

Maybe not in the States, but else where in the world, companies certainly do find temporary replacements.

For low-trained or standardized jobs sure, but it's impossible to get an effective replacement on technical jobs merely for several months. Anybody you hire will take months, if not years to get up to steam.

And if you did find somebody, they'd charge you easily 3x normal salary because you're hiring them for a few months, i.e. consultants.

 

[Tech198]

What are non-parents getting?

probably nothing.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

I work for Microsoft and we offer fertility services and adoption services assistance (money and resources). Adoptive parents receive the same time off as birth parents.
[automerge]1573082295[/automerge]

Why do you act like it’s a vacation? I’m currently on paternity leave and haven’t slept in the last two weeks.

Why do “non-parents” deserve something for not doing anything?

Millennials and their sense of entitlement, work 18 hours a week and expect 6 months of paid time off.

Congratulations btw!

 

[Statusnone88]

Why do “non-parents” deserve something for not doing anything?

You reproduced. Congrats. I’m sure parenthood itself is awesome, but it’s not like you did anything that requires much skill lol.

 

[CarlJ]

What are non-parents getting?

All this "what's in it for me" in this thread. Disappointing.

I don't have kids, and I'm not going to have kids. Yet I'm strongly in favor of our country, our states, and our cities, and our companies spending the money to have good schools and to give those parents the time they need to take care of their kids. I'm very happy to see Apple doing this. It's the right thing to do, and it's a shame that Apple doing even just this much makes them seem to stand out from the crowd.

There are going to be kids in our society (to argue otherwise would be silly) - I want them to be healthy, well fed, well adjusted and well educated, because that's what we all should want, but also because the alternatives are all much more expensive to society as a whole, in the long run.

 

[jimbobb24]

You need to stop thinking that way.

Why should companies allow employees to take holidays, or have vacation or sick time? Those are all times where your employer is paying you to do nothing.

People's lives should matter. But Americans are accustomed to think of the business interests over their own.

You need to stop thinking your way. Lol. I get it - you like your preferences.

The reason many “Americans” think that way is because many of us are innovative entrepreneurs and we believe some day we will own businessss and have employees. We don’t all dream of being a corporate drone or employed by the govt and have them “give” us stuff. We think about what this would mean for our businesses and how much it would cost and how we might be able to employ less people and maybe our business isn’t even possible now because of these laws.

So - if you see corporations as a magic entity that has cash just sitting around to give out more goodies - you worry about employee benefits. Since I want
to be a start up owner and innovator I will worry about what the increasing costs of my business might be with laws that make me do things I don’t think are a good investment.

 

[Apple2GS]

Taking 16+ weeks off with every child is terrible career move. I know it isn't suppose to effect their career, but who would give an important project to someone who will be gone for 4 months, possible every year?