A father holding his child’s hand (illustration). – truthseeker08 / Pixabay
Volvo Cars’ goal is to promote gender equality. For this, the Swedish car manufacturer will offer a six-month parental leave compensated at 80% to its 40,000 employees around the world, he announced Tuesday.
As of April 1, the company will offer its employees 24 weeks of leave, which they can distribute as they wish over the three years following the birth of the child. This policy, open to employees with one year of seniority, is inspired by Swedish law. The parental leave policy is among the most generous in Europe, with 480 days to be shared between the two parents, most of whom are compensated at 80%.
Encourage “more men to take parental leave”
“The most important thing is that we offer the same to every parent and that we encourage more men to take parental leave,” said the manufacturer’s director of human resources, Hanna Fager. Volvo, which currently employs around 75% of men, has conducted a pilot program in Europe, the Middle East and Africa since 2019, testing the measure with its salespeople: 46% of leave was taken by fathers.
“It’s clearly rare in the automotive industry but also geographically: we have a lot of employees in China and the United States for whom this will be a big step forward compared to what they benefit from today”, underlines Hanna Fager. . “Of course it will cost us money but we see it as a long-term investment”, pleads the person in charge. “It’s the people who make the difference so we need to continue to attract talent.”
A similar measure from 2015 at Spotify
Before Volvo, other Swedish groups implemented long-term parental leave for their employees, such as the world leader in online music Spotify, which in 2015 announced a measure similar to Volvo’s. Ikea had also announced paid parental leave programs of several months, in India and the United States in particular.
