Standard Insurance Company has expanded its parental leave benefits for all eligible U.S. employees.
In a statement, The Standard explained that these benefits now extended to biological, adoptive, and foster parents and the change increased the allotted time off to eight weeks of leave with full salary replacement following birth, adoption, or foster placement.
The new policy took effect on September 1, 2019.
"The Standard has always been a company grounded in helping people. Now, we're taking a step to better support our employees as their families grow, by announcing a significant enhancement to our parental leave benefits for eligible U.S. employees," said John Hooper, vice president of human resources of The Standard.
The Standard said that its new parental leave policy was designed to support and enable parents to play active roles in nurturing new family members. The plan provides eight weeks of paid parental leave.
"We care about our employees' well-being, and this new policy empowers them with the flexibility to make it easier to choose both family and career. We also believe it will enhance our ability to attract and retain top talent and lead to the continued success of our company," said Mr. Hooper.
The enhanced parental leave benefit builds on The Standard's existing benefits program, which offers medical benefits including fertility assistance and flexible work and remote work options.
Learn more: www.standard.com.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].