IKEA USA Promises 3 Months of Paid Maternity Leave

In today’s growing job market, more and more companies like Netflix, Adobe, and Etsy are offering more thorough employee benefits that basically show the company cares.

IKEA is now joining the ranks of the few who are expanding their maternity and paternity leave for new parents. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t mandate paid maternity leave and, according to a 2014 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 13% percent of Americans receive paid maternity leave, and it’s usually correlated to income lines.

IKEA workers who have been there for more than one year can take up to three months of paid leave to be with their family, receiving 100% of their base wage for the first six weeks of parental leave and 50% for an additional six weeks.

IKEA’s maternity leave will bridge a wage gap their company previously experienced. According to a Fortune article, IKEA work benefits were given mostly to salaried workers, but now, maternity/paternity leave will be given to every IKEA worker, regardless of how much they’re paid or how many hours they work.

This spells good news to Columbusites running IKEA Columbus next year. Mothers and fathers of newborns, adopted children, and foster children will all get the family time they need and deserve.

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