[ejcx]

That seems great. Is there any protection from abuse? It seems that one could say "See you next year" with this and get a year-long vacation.

Is that accurate. Would that actually work? Is there any contract saying you won't take your year off and quit on your last day? OR is this all hinging on you getting a continued workload complete, and not just a year vacation.

[ryoshu]

Having a newborn is not a year long vacation. While it's possible that some employees could abuse a year of maternity/paternity leave by quitting after the one year term, I imagine this move will greatly increase company loyalty amongst new, potential and existing parents.

[Yakimoto]

Having a newborn isn't a task put against you. You elected for it. Don't perpetuate the idea that some credit is owed to parents as if it's not a year long vacation.

[ryoshu]

Nowhere did I say it was a task put against you or that something is owed to parents. This is a perk being offered by the company, just like free lunches or monthly team outings.

It's a very attractive perk for couples looking to have a family and will like engender loyalty within that cohort.

[rayiner]

> It seems that one could say "See you next year" with this and get a year-long vacation.

LOL. Going to work is a vacation compared to taking care of an infant.

[j2bax]

Dad of 11 month old. Can confirm.

[jfb]

Dad of six week old. Laughs hollowly at the OP.

[endtime]

I have ten-month-old twins, and I took six weeks of paternity leave when they were born (I don't work for Netflix). And I love my kids to bits, but by that point, getting to come to work every day felt more like a vacation than being at home did.

[JoshTriplett]

Several people I know have taken care of newborns, and the idea that they were taking a "vacation" is ridiculous. It's a 24-hour-a-day sleep-deprivation-heavy job.

[rquantz]

A year of maternity or paternity leave would be pretty reasonable, I think. Taking the full year would not be abuse, it would be following the letter of the policy.

[InclinedPlane]

In practice it's unlikely to be a problem. Step 1 is that you just avoid hiring people who aren't intrinsically motivated anyway. The rest pretty much takes care of itself.