YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is considered as the most powerful woman on the internet but despite her VIP status she expertly manages a work and home life balance. With five kids to raise, the tech industry top executive is grateful for parental leave. She tells parents that they need to take advantage of taking time off from work more.
Susan Wojcicki is instrumental in changing parental leave policies for Google, the parent company of YouTube, in the last two decades. The company now offers paid parental leave for 18 weeks for moms and 12 weeks for dads, CNN Money reports.
She witnessed how this shift has improved YouTube's workforce and how other Silicon Valley companies have followed suit. By relaxing the rules about parents taking time off to be with their kids or family, YouTube eventually was able to retain their talented workers. Their talents, on the other hand, could enjoy more time with the kids. It's basically a win-win situation for employer and employee.
Susan Wojcicki believes that a generous parental leave policy is actually good for business. "We wanted to retain women, we wanted to show them that Google cared, that they can be a mother and they could work at Google," she told CNN Money.
If the policy didn't exist with her company, the CEO expressed that there is no other course but to leave and she would not have second thoughts about it. "What if I had to go back to work on day 10? I would quit. That's what I would do," the mother said, according to Wired.
Despite her position and privilege, where she can afford to hire help all around, Susan Wojcicki is still a mom who juggles her work and time with her children. She doesn't see motherhood as a hindrance to having a career and in fact, she says that being a parent has help her become a better CEO.
Wojcicki hopes companies would be more open to expanding parental leave and parents should take advantage of this as it offers a good overall outcome, both at work and at home. Get to know the YouTube executive and her principles about work and home life balance in this video below.
