Netflix ‘walking back’ generous parental leave policy after too many workers take full year off

Some Netflix employees accuse the streamer of ‘targeting’ employees on paid parental leave during recent layoffs

The streaming giant has reportedly cut back on its progressive, unlimited parental leave policy (Getty Images)

Netflix has reportedly been scaling back its progressive parental leave policy.

Once touted as one of the most generous family policies in corporate America, Netflix began offering unlimited parental leave to employees during the first year of their child’s birth in 2015.

However, a new report in the Wall Street Journal suggests the streaming giant has been “walking back” its policy over the past few years.

Netflix has expanded rapidly, now boasting roughly 14,000 employees — a more-than-60 percent jump from before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has since removed the “freedom and responsibility” section of its founding culture memo, according to the WSJ. As a result, current and former employees say the unlimited parental leave policy is no longer a priority for the company.

“Netflix always had a different approach than other companies in that they said it’s important for employees to be with their babies,” Clara Guimarães, a former Brazil-based production employee for Netflix, told the WSJ. “Now it feels like it’s more about the business needs.”

‘Wall Street Journal’ says Netflix is ‘walking back’ its unlimited parental leave policy offered to employees during the first year of their child’s birth (Netflix)

In October, Netflix removed information from the workplace culture section on its website that previously stated “new parents generally take 4-8 months” off for parental leave. In its place, the company didn’t specifically note a company-wide number of months for parental leave. Instead, it encouraged employees to confer with their managers before taking time off.

While Netflix’s internal benefits page maintained that salaried employees can take parental leave within the first year of their child’s life or adoption, according to the WSJ, it didn’t specify a length of time.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which applies to companies with at least 50 employees, requires employers to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave. In some states — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C. — employers are required to offer 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Guimarães told the WSJ that the ambiguous language on how much time employees are actually allowed to take for parental leave “can impact how long people feel comfortable taking.”

In 2022, some workers reportedly expressed concerns that it appeared Netflix was “targeting” employees on parental leave or returning from parental leave by laying them off from the company. Former employee Becca Leckie, who had been with Netflix for more than five years, was laid off from the streamer the day before she was to return from a six-month maternity leave. In a since-deleted LinkedIn post seen by the WSJ, Leckie said she had joined Netflix in large part because of its generous parental leave policy.

Another employee claimed that when he told his manager that his partner was expecting, the manager allegedly said: “You’re not taking a year are you?” The employee’s job was reportedly eliminated in a reorganization this year, shortly before he returned from a six-month paternity leave.

In a statement to The Independent, a Netflix spokesperson said that its parental leave policy “has always been to ‘take care of your child and yourself,’” and explained that “employees have the freedom, flexibility and responsibility to determine what is best for them and their family.”

A spokesperson also maintained that, after an analysis, only a small percentage of those impacted by layoffs at Netflix were on parental leave.

“We have not pulled back on our parental leave policy,” said Sergio Ezama, chief talent officer, in a statement.