Nestle announces over 4 months of parental leave for staff worldwide

Nestle on Wednesday announced the launch of an inclusive and enhanced global parental support policy.

The new gender-neutral policy will apply to all employees worldwide. Under the new policy, parental leave for primary caregivers will be extended to 18 weeks of fully paid leave from 14 weeks previously. The policy establishes a minimum of four weeks for secondary caregivers, for whom there was no global minimum before.

Nestle 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."

The new policy sets new minimum standards but does not set limits. This means that in some places, Nestle may choose to offer more leave than the 18 weeks for primary caregivers and the four weeks for secondary caregivers. The company will always provide longer parental leave if local laws require it.

In addition to the new arrangements, the parental support policy reinforces employment protection, non-discrimination, health protection, the availability of flexible working options, as well as breastfeeding support.

Nestle Head of Group Human Resources Beatrice Guillaume-Grabisch said: "We want to make Nestle 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."

Nestlé will begin implementing the policy in 2020, with the global rollout set to be completed by the end of 2022.