Walmart will soon offer better parental leave than most U.S. companies. The new policy for biological parents, announced in January, will go into effect on March 1, according to a company spokesperson. The company already has rolled out a more generous policy for adoptive parents.
Why Walmart Expanded Parental Leave — and How to Convince Your Company to Do the Same
Walmart’s new parental leave policy is more generous than what’s on offer at most companies. That matters, because the United States is the only country in the world without paid maternity leave, and because Walmart is the largest employer in the U.S. While Walmart has stressed the smart business reasons for offering leave — greater productivity, engagement, and retention — it often still takes work on the part of employees to advocate for a benefit like this one. Advocacy groups say there are four ways employees can make a strong case. First, show broad employee support for changing the policy. Second, collect stories of real employees who’ll be affected; they’re often more persuasive than dry data. Third, put together a strong proposal for executives to react to. What do you think the policy should be, and what will it cost? And fourth, be persistent. This might take a while.