Two Years In, Amazon's Parental Leave Policy is Working for All Employees

by Steve Winter

August 21, 2017

https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/6t6qwashg35v883

Our employees, from hourly associates to senior executives, have access to parental leave benefits like Leave Share and Ramp Back

Two years ago, my team set out to build a parental leave program that would work for all Amazonians – from our hourly associates to our most senior executives. We spent a lot of time building a parental leave policy that would be valuable for our global employee base – ensuring that no matter where our employees work, they are able to take advantage of parental leave during a critical time for their families.

The result was a parental leave program that’s uniquely Amazonian. We offer generous, paid leave for all parents, as well as four weeks of pre-partum leave for birth mothers. For Amazonians whose spouses’ jobs don’t provide paid leave, we offer Leave Share – an innovative program that enables employees to share any amount of their parental leave with their partner. And we offer a way for new parents to ease back to work, through Ramp Back – eight weeks of optional, flexible, reduced work hours.

We regularly hear from employees that they love the flexibility and support that our new parental leave policy offers them. And the data reflects that – more than 11,000 U.S. employees have used our new parental leave policy since it launched. Nearly three-quarters of employees who’ve used leave benefits are hourly employees, and more than 60% of our employees who have used parental leave are fathers.

To me, these numbers and the responses we’ve received from employees mean the policy is working. As a father and an Amazonian, I’m really proud of the work my team has done on behalf of new parents at Amazon, and look forward to continuing to support Amazonians as they expand their families.