Apple Announces Expanded Employee Benefits for New Parents
Apple today announced a new employee benefit that's designed to ease the transition back to work for new parents, expanding on the 16 weeks of leave that parents are already provided with an additional four-week grace period.
Apple's head of retail and human resources shared details on the changes with Fast Company.

"What we find a lot of times is people are really excited to get back to work," says O'Brien, Apple's head of retail and human resources. "At the same time, [they] feel like they need to make sure things are really stable and successful at home. And that weighs heavy on people's minds, I think."
Apple's new policy will give parents a four-week period after returning from leave where they'll be paid like full-time employees but will have the flexibility to work part-time or set their own hours with a manager's oversight.
The updated transition period will be available to all new parents, including those who adopt or take in foster children (non-birth parents are allowed six weeks of paid leave rather than 16). Retail workers are also able to take advantage of the parental leave changes.
Along with the new transition period, Apple is expanding leave for adoptive parents by four weeks through a Paid Family Care benefit that lets parents take time off for family illness. Apple is also tripling its financial assistance for families that choose to adopt, providing up to $14,000 towards an adoption.
For all employees, Apple is improving its mental wellness benefits and will double the number of free counseling sessions available to employees per year along with providing telemedicine options.
According to O'Brien, Apple is hoping to make it easier for parents to ultimately return to work after a period of leave. "I think many times working parents feel like they need to deal with that quietly and make it seem perfectly seamless," O'Brien told Fast Company. "We all know life is complicated. So [we're] making it really clear that we're supporting them in that journey."
Popular Stories
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature.
According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now.
According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles.
CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report.
Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube.
During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
Apple plans to mostly stop announcing new features more than a few months before they are ready to launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett. The pair of reporters revealed this noteworthy tidbit towards the bottom of a lengthy report about Apple's artificial intelligence shortcomings today.
This alleged change in strategy comes after Apple was forced to delay its more...