Royal Dutch Shell will offer a minimum 16-week paid to maternity leave to employees working for the company around the world. The policy will go into effect Jan. 1.
On its recruitment website, the oil giant said the policy is designed to attract, and keep, women in the work force. Claire Punins, an exploration geologist for Shell, championed a maternity leave standard at Shell, according to an article on the company’s website.
Punins said: “All women should receive the support they need as new mothers, regardless of where they are in the world.
“Having a global maternity standard at Shell is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes business sense. It makes us more attractive to women seeking jobs, and means they stay with us for longer.”
In recent years, many US companies have offered longer, paid maternity leave to employees, staying a step ahead of federal law, which requires companies with 50 or more employees to offer 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.
As of last year, only 12 percent of US employees had access to paid family leave, although paid parental leave (for women and men) is becoming more common in industries like technology, where competition for workers is fierce.
This story originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle, an Energy Voice content partner. For more click here.
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