Microsoft on Wednesday October, 25, informed its employees in Nigeria that it was improving its family leave benefits to ensure that they had adequate time to care for the people who matter most in their lives.
The Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Akin Banuso, said that the company had increased maternity leave to 20 weeks paid at 100 per cent and paternity/parental leave to six weeks paid at 100 per cent. the reason for this is to ensure that all new parents will have time to bond with a new child, whether through birth or adoption.
He also went further to state the company’s commitment to driving a culture of diversity and inclusivity across our company, and providing leave benefits to both mothers and fathers is one of the ways we support that culture
Mr. Banuso also buttressed the fact that the company introduced a new caregiver leave benefit which involves four weeks of fully paid leave to take care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition.
Reacting to the development, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commended the initiative by Microsoft, saying that it would help working mothers and fathers alike “to become more productive at work and readily available for their children and loved ones.”
The Secretary-General of the congress , Mr. Peter Ozo-Esan, also called out to other sectors to emulate the Microsoft example, with a pledge that the NLC would commence a nationwide campaign soon.
He didn’t fail to commend the food and beverages sector that had managed to initiate increased maternity leave time and allowances in the past.
Several tech companies outside Nigeria offered unlimited paid time off or discretionary time off that could be used for family care, noting that LinkedIn, the business focused social network, which Microsoft bought last year, had offered its United States employees six weeks of paid family care leave since 2014. Facebook has also expanded its employee benefits to include 20 days of paid leave to grieve the loss of an immediate family member and up to six weeks of paid time to take care of sick relatives.
