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Sandvik is rolling out a new gender-neutral parental leave benefit that enables employees around the world to take 14 weeks of paid leave. CEO Stefan Widing sees his own parental leaves as great experiences that has also benefited work.
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The parental leave program provides 90 percent of the base salary to all employees in countries where no equivalent or better benefit already exits. As many countries where Sandvik operates do provide an equivalent or better benefit to women, the new program is expected to primarily benefit male employees.
“One of our strategic objectives is to be the employer of choice,” says Stefan Widing, President and CEO at Sandvik. “We believe that it is crucial for us to be successful as a company; to be able to attract, retain and develop our employees. And we believe that work-life balance is very important for that. With this benefit we think we can improve the work-life balance for new families and people whose families are growing.”
Paid parental leave in action
Sandvik launched the program in July 2024. Initially introduced in Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia, it will be rolled out to all other countries over the next 12 months.
“I live in a country where we´ve had this benefit for some time,” adds Widing. “I spent six months at home with each of my boys when they were between six and 12 months old. It was a very rewarding experience. It allowed me to connect with them at a very young age in a way that I wouldn’t have otherwise. This also helped me at work because of the personal development I experienced. So I am really happy that we can now provide this benefit to all our employees no matter where they are located and who they are.”
“By launching this global benefit Sandvik takes one big step forward towards our commitment to inclusion and supporting our employees’ health and well-being. We also support growing families. We believe in and we support our people, so they bring the best to work and home," says Nidhi Gokhale VP and Head of HR, Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions.
CEO Stefan Widing and VP HR NIdhi Gokhale are happy to introduce the global parental leave benefit.
Requirements for Sandvik’s benefit
The leave must be taken within 12 calendar months of the birth or adoption of a child. All full-time and part-time employees who have completed 12 months of service are eligible and the benefit is optional.
It’s a gender neutral equal parental leave for all our employees globally. Whether you’re a mum or dad, or wherever you live across the world you will still be able to bond with your newborn and share the parenting responsibly together.
Nidhi Gokhale.
Parental leave podcasts
Supporting families worldwide with new global parental leave benefit
