U.S. IKEA employees will be getting more paid parental leave moving forward.
The Swedish furniture chain has announced that its stateside workers will now get up to four months of paid parental leave. The move follows a growing industry trend as plenty of retailers are offering more parental leave, perhaps because the demands of a new parent are appreciated more in the present day.
The move applies to 13,000 IKEA workers, including salaried and hourly workers. The new policy will be in effect as of Jan. 1, 2017 and it applies to birth father and mothers, as well as adoptive or foster parents.
The company previously offered women giving birth only five days of paid leave, along with six to eight weeks of paid disability leave. IKEA has also been making moves towards helping its employees feel at home in a number of other ways.
Wages for workers were increased to $11.87 an hour for employees at the very bottom thanks to a number of increases that were added over the last two years. Workers who have been with the company for at least a year are eligible for paid parental leave for three months.
Employees who have been at IKEA for three years can get up to four months off, with eight weeks at full paid leave, along with eight other weeks with half pay from the furniture company.
