Dive Brief:
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Amazon is adding a paternity leave benefit, a first for the company, and improving its maternity leave for full-time employees, the company said Monday.
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The change is a gender-neutral six weeks of paid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child for employees who’ve worked at Amazon for at least a year. Birth moms receive an additional 10 weeks of paid leave. Those who also qualify for four weeks of medical leave could end up with 20 weeks of paid leave. Employees can share their leave with others, and can opt for part-time hours for a while after going back to work.
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Amazon hasn’t commented on the changes to the press, but the Wall Street Journal reports that a memo to employees notes the policy was developed after taking in the results of employee surveys and focus groups and after assessing the policies of the company’s competitors.
Dive Insight:
Amazon is often considered a tech company as well as a retailer, but its employee policies haven’t so far followed Silicon Valley’s general penchant for generous benefits. In fact, of course, the company has suffered bruising reports of terrible working conditions, both in its warehouses and in its white-collar offices.
It doesn’t sound like Amazon is getting anywhere close to Google’s long list of employee benefits and perks—some financial and some just boosts to the quality-of-your-day—but it may be taking steps to improve the image that was described in a New York Times article this summer.
Beyond that, though, the company may simply have to step up to the plate to be able to hire and keep the level of talent that its high-level tech focus requires.