PETALING JAYA: The workforce at Volvo Car Malaysia is delighted by a new all-gender, paid parental leave policy that is implemented globally by the Swedish automaker.
The “Family Bond” policy will give all employees with at least one year’s service a total of 24 weeks of leave at 80% of their base pay by default.
The policy applies to either parent and the leave can be taken anytime within the three first years of parenthood. Over 40,000 Volvo employees worldwide are expected to benefit from the policy.
“The team is very happy, we have a very young workforce and they’ve began talking about maybe becoming parents next year,” said Volvo Cars Malaysia's head of People Experience Rema Chetty here.
“Reactions globally have been good, I think it’s also the paternity bit that has become something that everyone is talking about.
READ MORE: Volvo Cars introduces innovative parental leave policy globally
“Also in this part of the world, we don’t have such good paternity leave as opposed to our counterparts in Europe. Volvo saw a gap there and decided that all countries where Volvo operates from will have the same policy. Every employee within Volvo Cars will be able to enjoy the same benefits.”
Rema said employees who have adopted children and parents who foster children also qualify for the benefit.
"It’s all about bonding with the children, the company wants every new parent to take time to bond with their child. If we give them the freedom and flexibility to be who they are and to spend as much time as they want at home and to bond with their child and family they will come back as happier employees."
Volvo Cars’ global policy is inspired by national legislation in its home market of Sweden, famous around the globe for its generous parental leave arrangements.
The Geely-owned Volvo is also known as the first carmaker to introduce the three-point safety belt in its vehicles, and more recently putting a speed cap of 180kph on all new Volvo cars.
