Reply to the attached post. 200 words with citations. APA

Dennis Hernandez posted Jan 16, 2020 3:52 PM

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Hello class,

            If I were in charge of a business, the paid-time-off benefit I would recommend would be “paid” maternal and paternity leave. In the module 2 discussion, I also explored this benefit which most U.S. companies were lacking and which was also not Federally mandated. Other countries have better maternity/paternity benefits packages from its companies than the U.S. For example, in Norway, per the Norwegian Working Environment Act (NWE), an employee who has been “gainfully employed for at least six out of the last ten months prior to the birth of a child is entitled to paid leave for 43 weeks…” (Basics of Norwegian, n.d.). This benefit could also be shared with the father of the child.

            In the U.S. however, employers are not Federally mandated to provide “paid” leave for its employees.  The only benefit that is Federally mandated is allowing the mother to use “12 weeks of FMLA leave for birth of a child” (Frequently Asked, n.d.). These 12 weeks of FMLA leave, however, is “not” paid leave, but it would provide job security for the mother when she does return from maternity leave.

            I would definitely recommend a company to provide “paid” maternity/paternity leave for its employees. This, I believe, is something that is overlooked in our country in taking care for the needs of its employees. This benefit would be very attractive to prospective talent if the company would want to keep those individuals. As the video stated, one of the companies the HMP video stated implements paid maternity & paternity leave is Netflix, which we know is a very successful company, which probably is able to keep great talent, maybe due to its perks such as this paid benefit (HMP Finance, n.d.). Also, HMP states, that this benefit may not even cost companies as much as they would think because the employees they do want to retain have a dedication to work harder, therefore they do not like to take as much time off. In essence, talents are lured to work for a company due to the attractiveness of benefits such as this but companies benefit because driven employees do not take all the benefits as they are focused on their career.

            The drawback that I see in offering paid maternity and paternity leave is for one, if mothers and fathers do take the full paid time off, then the company does expend its funds and workforce to provide for its employees. Also, depending on the nature of the job an individual does, he or she may not be as proficient when they return back to work after a long hiatus from the job. For example, if the individual were in a project or program management type of job, they would need someone to take over for a while and then they would need to slowly get back in and relearn or figure out what they had

missed during their time off.

Basics of Norwegian Labour Law. (n.d.). NHO – Næringslivets ovedorganisasjon. Basics

            of Norwegian Labour Law. Retrieved January 16, 2020, from

http://www.nho.no/en/english/articles/basic-labour-law/

Frequently Asked. (n.d.). Home | U.S. Department of Labor. Frequently Asked Questions

            and Answers About the Revisions to the Family and Medical Leave Act | U.S.

            Department of Labor. Retrieved January 16, 2020, from

http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla/final-rule/faq

HMP Finance. (n.d.). Why Generous Paid Time Off Policies Pay For Employers.    

        Retrieved from