Everyone is talking about Netflix and its new maternity and paternity leave policy. But is it a ploy for publicity? Or a step towards real change in the private sector? These are the questions the It’s Working Project and Julia Beck are asking. Amy Joyce reports in the Washington Post:
“‘We’ve hit an amazing spot,’ said Julia Beck, founder of Forty Weeks and the It’s Working Project, who helps companies figure out how to get women and parents back into the workplace. She hopes (as many of us do) that this will be the new norm. But ‘are these going to be flashes of media? Or is it going to be the true new normal?’ she asked.”
Netflix is now the latest company to make headlines for its parental leave policy, announcing on its blog that it will offer one year of unlimited leave to all parents. This comes after similar announcements from IBM, Vodaphone, Virgin and other companies all striving to offer better maternity and paternity leave than their competitors.
Companies seem to be learning that introducing more flexible policies for working parents is getting them favorable attention- We can only hope that once outcomes are positive, the rest of the private sector will follow.