Starbucks Adds Paternity and Maternity Leave Benefits to U.S. Employees

Starbucks will be expanding their parental benefits for U.S. employees effective October 1, 2017. This is with regard to the low unemployment rate as manifested during the preceding months. As a result, companies are trying to improve their benefits scheme to retain employees.

According to the Associated Press, paid maternity and paternity leave in the U.S. lags behind standards across the globe. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only requires unpaid leave for the birth and care of a child, but  more than 40% of U.S. employees don't meet all of the FMLA requirements. Thus, companies including Netflix, Adobe and Microsoft have recently increased their benefits.

In a note sent to their employees on Thursday, Starbucks' new enhanced benefits means that store employees will receive six weeks of 100 percent paid maternity leave for recovery plus 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave. Previously, they were only given six weeks of leave at 67 percent of their average pay. Meanwhile, non-birth parents (including fathers, spouses, and foster and adoptive parents) are entitled to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave.

Starbucks representative Jaime Riley said the coffee shop giant houses 160,000 employees in the U.S. that includes district managers and other employees who work outside its stores. Due to this, non-store employees can also take up to 18 weeks paid maternity leave at 100 percent of average pay and 12 weeks of paid paternity leave for spouses and non-birth parents. Furthermore, employees who work an average of 20 or more hours a week are eligible for the said benefits.

"While we have many substantial investments in our partners, we want to continue to do more," said Kevin Johnson. The president, who will replace Howard Schultz as Starbucks CEO in April, stated that this is just one of the many steps the company undertook to evolve their benefits and create a Partner Experience that lives up to their aspirations.

Noteworthy, this is not the only benefit related news Starbucks did for the past years. Last year, the company went on to increase the employees' wages, tuition reimbursement for those pursuing a bachelor's degree and a more relaxed dress code.