Swedish car maker Volvo has announced a gender neutral, inclusive and adaptable to personal needs, paid parental leave policy as of April 1, 2021.
The ‘Family Bond’ policy will give all employees with at least one year’s service a total of 24 weeks of leave at 80 per cent of their base pay by default. The policy applies to either parent and the leave can be taken anytime within the three first years of parenthood.
“We want to create a culture that supports equal parenting for all genders,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive. “When parents are supported to balance the demands of work and family, it helps to close the gender gap and allows everyone to excel in their careers. We have always been a family-oriented and human-centric company. Through the Family Bond programme, we are demonstrating and living our values, which in turn will strengthen our brand.”
The global policy is more inclusive and supportive than many existing policies around the world, and includes all legally registered parents, including adoptive, foster care and surrogate parents, as well as non-birth parents in same-sex couples. Some countries do not offer any paid leave to new parents, or exclude certain groups of parents – the latter is particularly true for fathers.
Volvo Cars’ global policy is inspired by national legislation in its home market of Sweden, famous around the globe for its generous parental leave arrangements, which have delivered tangible benefits for parents and children alike in recent decades. It follows a parental leave pilot scheme launched in the EMEA region in 2019, in which 46 per cent of all applicants were fathers.
“This is more than a new parental leave policy for our employees – it is the embodiment of our company culture and values,” said Hanna Fager, head of corporate functions. “We want to lead change in this industry and set a new global people standard. By opting all our employees into paid parental leave we narrow the gender gap and get a more diverse workforce, boosting performance and strengthening our business.”
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo Cars was founded in 1927. Today, it is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 661,713 cars in 2020 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding since 2010.
As of December 2020, Volvo Cars employed approximately 40,000 (41,500) full-time employees.
Under its new company purpose, Volvo Cars aims to provide customers with the Freedom to Move in a personal, sustainable and safe way. This purpose is reflected in a number of business ambitions: for example, by the middle of this decade it aims for half of its global sales to be fully electric cars, to sell half of its global volume online and to establish five million direct consumer relationships. Volvo Cars is also committed to an ongoing reduction of its carbon footprint, with the ambition to be a climate-neutral company by 2040
Source: Volvocars.com
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