Volvo Offers 6-Month Parental Leave for Employees Worldwide
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Excellent news for Volvo employees. Volvo Cars has declared that it will be providing over 40,000 employees worldwide (yes, Malaysia too) a 6-month paid parental leave beginning April 1, 2021.
This policy applies to staff in every Volvo plant and office and includes both male and female parents. The "Family Bond" policy will provide every employee with at least a year's service a total of 24 weeks of leave at 80% of their base pay by default. The employee can take parental leave anytime within the first three years of parenthood.
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As of 2019, Volvo has 41,517 employees worldwide.
According to Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson, the company wants to create a culture that supports equal parenting for all genders. "When parents are supported to balance the demands of work and family, it helps to close the gender gap and allows everyone to excel in their careers," he said.
He added that the parental leave policy demonstrates the company's values which will strengthen their brand.
This global policy also applies in Malaysia. The marketing and PR director of Volvo Car Malaysia, Akhtar Sulaiman, said "This is a big step for Volvo, in which we are happy to extend the benefits of Family Bond onto our colleagues here in Malaysia. It is indeed empowering to be part of such a progressive-thinking organisation, to deepen our endeavours for competitive employee benefits amidst our positive culture."
One of the most inclusive parental leave policies in the world
Volvo says that the Family Bond policy is more supportive and inclusive than many existing policies around the globe and includes all legally registered parents such:
- Adoptive parents,
- Foster care parents, and
- Surrogate parents.
Some countries do not provide any paid leave to new parents or do not include particular groups of parents such as the fathers.
This policy sounds marvellous but not surprising as the company is from Scandinavia. The Family Bond policy is inspired by national legislation in Volvo's home market, Sweden. The country is famous for its generous parental leave arrangements, which have given tangible benefits for parents and children.
Volvo follows a parental leave pilot scheme started in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region in 2019, in which 46% of applicants were fathers.
When Volvo was studying its parental leave pilot result, it found that staff appreciated the policy for being inclusive, gender-neutral, and adaptable to personal needs. The research also resulted in crucial insights on promoting even more employees to take parental leave and make parental leave for both parents the new norm.
How Volvo encouraged its employees to take the 24-week parental leave
To encourage its employees, Volvo has concentrated on communicating about the Family Bond policy more effectively. It presents the 24-week parental leave as a pre-selected option to create a "default effect". Basically, people are highly likely to stay with pre-selected options.
Vague language, such as "up to 24 weeks", is avoided as humans tend to predict adverse outcomes when there is uncertainty. Through these tactics, Volvo aims to eliminate confusion and cultural barriers and provide both parents with certainty.
Source: Paul Tan
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