IKEA employees really have it good. The furniture retailer from Sweden has been giving their employees 4 weeks of paternity leave to all fathers with newborns.
The entitlement has been effective since January this year, and applies to all male employees in its stores and offices within South-East Asia.
Eligible fathers in other companies have two weeks of paternity leave that is funded by the government.
Workers in IKEA can claim the benefit regardless of how many children they have, but it must be used within the first 6 months of the child’s birth.
According to IKEA’s HR department, the benefit was to promote gender equality and enable fathers to take on more active roles at home, which it says is part of “Swedish values”.
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