Business Insider

Spotify’s New Parental Leave Policy Is So Great It Could Only Be Scandinavian 

Because who would want to leave such a cute face?

Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

This post originally appeared on Business Insider.

Spotify just announced that it will offer a full six months of paid parental leave to all full-time employees (maternity or paternity).

Parents will be able to take the leave at one time, or spread it out in three sections over three years. The leave is 100% paid and parents can take the leave up until a child’s third birthday.

“I think we can be a role model,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said. Spotify joins many tech companies with generous parental leave policies, like fellow streaming service Netflix, which offers “unlimited” leave during the child’s first year of life.

Spotify pointed to the place where it was founded, Sweden, as influencing this decision.

“This policy best defines who we are as a company, born out of a Swedish culture that places an emphasis on a healthy work/family balance, gender equality, and the ability for every parent to spend quality time with the people that matter most in their lives,” Spotify’s top HR officer, Katarina Berg, wrote in a statement.

Swedish parents get up to 480 days leave—until children are up to 8 years old, according to Berg.

See alsoMark Zuckerberg Donates $20 Million to Give Kids Faster Internet at Schools