Business Insider

Goldman Sachs Doubles Paid Paternity Leave to Four Weeks

Primary parents, breathe a sigh of relief. Then get back to changing that diaper.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

This post originally appeared on Business Insider.

Goldman Sachs is making life better for new dads. The investment bank just increased its paid parenting leave for non-primary parents, according to an internal announcement obtained by Business Insider.

Non-primary caregivers will now be offered four weeks of paid leave to bond with their babies. The bank had been offering two weeks paid leave.

“We looked at increasing the paid parenting leave for a number of reasons. Mainly, we realized that we have a number of employees where both spouses or partners are working and in order to provide opportunities for them to balance both their work and personal lives, it was important to provide individuals the opportunities to spend more time with their families,” Laura Young, a vice president in human capital management and head of Goldman’s wellness programs, told Business Insider.

Here’s the full announcement: 

As part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to working families, we are pleased to announce a global enhancement to our existing two-week parenting leave policy for non-primary caregivers.

Beginning Monday, June 1, non-primary caregivers will be offered four weeks of paid leave following the birth or legal adoption of a child, either by their spouses or domestic partners. The four weeks of paid parenting leave may be taken in increments of one week or more, or as otherwise approved by your business manager, and must be taken within 12 months of the birth or adoption of the child. The enhanced parental leave policy is the newest addition to our existing leave policies which include 16 weeks of paid maternity, adoption and surrogacy leave for primary caregivers.

According to Goldman’s leave policies, the four weeks can be taken non-consecutively within the first year of the child’s birth. Meanwhile, the bank currently offers 16 weeks of paid maternity leave. The first 12 weeks must be taken consecutively, while the last four can be considered paid parenting leave.

Same-sex partners are eligible for the parenting leave policies. 

Other Wall Street firms leading the paid paternity leave movement include Bank of America (12 weeks) and Citigroup (2 weeks). Silicon Valley remains way ahead of Wall Street on this perk. Companies including Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and Twitter all offer two to six months leave for both new mothers, fathers, and adopting parents.

See also: It’s Absurd That The Silk Road Founder Got a Life Sentence Without Parole