Paid parental leave is perhaps one of the most highlighted issues discussed since the election season began. Even though 2016 U.S. Presidential Election candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have proposed their respective paid family leave platforms, some tech companies have reportedly offering this kind of benefit before the campaign period started.
In the past 40 years, paid parental leave has already been a part of the agenda of every women's movement. Unfortunately, the recommendation for paid family leave in the United States was delayed due to the fact that the baby boom generation has retreated from its childbearing years, Parent Herald previously noted.
As the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election looms, the need for the paid parental leave benefit has been highlighted. In fact, Trump has proposed a six-week paid maternity leave for moms while Clinton's platform looked more promising as her proposal allows any gender parent to have up to 12 weeks of family leave, which is paid at least 60 percent of their current salaries.
Fast Company, however, revealed that Trump and Clinton are really not the avant-garde with the paid parental leave proposals as the said benefit had already existed and practiced by some tech companies. The publication added that Facebook and Apple got massive publicity when they started to incorporate the value of family into their benefits program.
For Facebook, the company's human resource vice president Tudor Havriliuc boasted their family benefits program that vows to "take good care and support" their employees. LinkedIn, on the other hand, maximized its paid time off for their workers who are parents, giving them additional six-week paid parental over the first year.
LinkedIn's maternity leave is also impressive as the company pays the moms 100 percent of their salary for the actual maternity leave. In addition, IBM also offers an extensive array of family benefits, where moms get a 14-week leave credits while dads and adoptive parents get leave opportunity for six weeks.
Aside from the tech giants, Netflix is also offering family leave benefits. With that said, it's safe to say that the paid parental leave proposals should not only be seen and heard during the election season.
Meanwhile, the paid parental leave platforms of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump materialized as the two candidates' way of wooing middle-class constituents with family. Their formal family leave proposals aim to boost more voters' support.
Speaking of Trump's proposal, Huffington Post claimed his maternity leave platform is Trump's biggest insult to women. In fact, the paid parental leave proposal for women reportedly confirmed his "antiquated and sexist worldview."
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