Nestlé unwraps sweet new paternity leave offer for working dads

Food giant Nestlé has announced a big increase in their parental leave policy.

The gender blind policy means primary caregivers can now take up to 18 weeks of leave on full pay. That will be open to dads as well as mums. If the father is the so-called secondary caregiver then he’ll get four weeks with full pay. That’s a huge increase on the company’s previous minimum of zero time off.

The company, worth more than £200 billion, has also committed to make flexible working more widely available.

Nestlé are the firm behind Nescafe coffee, Vittel water and iconic confectionery products like Smarties and KitKats.

Inclusive and inspiring

Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said: “Every family is unique, so we have designed a parental support policy that is flexible enough to work for us all. Supporting the healthy development of infants has been a core value of our company since our founding. Our new parental support policy is an important part of our efforts to provide children with the best start in life, by allowing parents to spend more time with their new child.”

Nestle employs around 300,000 people across the globe. The new policy will be rolled out from next year. However it’s expected to take up to 24 months before all employees get the benefit.

Head of Group Human Resources Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch said: “We want to make Nestlé an even more inclusive and inspiring place to work. This is a policy that will benefit every one of our people when they welcome a new child to their family, wherever they are in the world.”

Croydon

Nestle’s approach to parenthood has not been without controversy in the past. The firm has been the target of frequent boycotts by activist groups. Campaigners accuse them of aggressively marketing baby milk formula in developing countries.

The firm recently moved its UK headquarters from an iconic skyscraper in Croydon to a base near Gatwick.

• Vote  
• 0
• 0
• You already voted!

• Tags:
• paternity rights