Goldman Sachs offers employees an extra 10 days of family leave to cope with coronavirus
The move from Goldman Sachs may put pressure on other firms to do the same
Source | www.marketwatch.com | Paul Clarke | Bérengère Sim
Goldman Sachs has offered its employees worldwide an extra 10 days of leave to help them care for children or elderly relatives affected by the coronavirus.
The US bank told employees last night that they were entitled to the extra time off to handle the “unique personal circumstances related to the profound impact of Covid-19”.
Bentley de Beyer, who took over as head of human capital management at Goldman in January, sent a memo to staff telling them about the additional leave. Schools have been closed as a result of the pandemic, placing additional strain on parents, and older people are more susceptible to severe cases of the respiratory disease.
“To support employees, we will now offer 10 days of family leave to our people globally to care for family members, as needed, due to Covid-19-related illness or childcare needs, including homeschooling,” de Beyer wrote in the memo.
The move may put pressure on other firms to follow suit, starting with Goldman’s Wall Street peers and rivals. Last year, Goldman was one of a number of financial firms to start offering generous parental leave and fertility benefits, as a trend toward new family-friendly policies took hold in the industry.
Also during 2019, improved parental leave policies were introduced at US insurer MassMutual and UK asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen. However, most of Goldman’s Wall Street rivals have not yet met its bar on time off for childcare, according to statistics compiled by Bloomberg.