Sandvik is introducing a new gender-neutral parental leave benefit that allows employees worldwide to take 14 weeks of paid leave. CEO Stefan Widing views his own parental leaves as positive experiences that have also benefited his work. The parental leave program offers 90 percent of the base salary to all employees in countries where no equivalent or better benefit exists. Since many countries where Sandvik operates already provide an equivalent or better benefit for women, the new program is expected to mainly benefit male employees.
"One of our strategic objectives is to be the employer of choice," says Stefan Widing, President and CEO of Sandvik. "We believe it is crucial for our success as a company to attract, retain, and develop our employees. We also believe that work-life balance is very important for this. With this benefit, we think we can improve the work-life balance for new families and those with growing families."
Paid Parental Leave in Action
Sandvik launched the program in July 2024. It was first introduced in Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia, and will be expanded to all other countries over the next 12 months.
“I live in a country where we’ve had this benefit for some time,” says 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 growth I experienced. So I am really happy that we can now provide this benefit to all our employees, no matter where they are located or who they are.”
“By launching this global benefit, Sandvik takes a big step forward in our commitment to inclusion and supporting our employees’ health and well-being. We also support growing families. We believe in and support our people, so they bring their best to work and home," says Nidhi Gokhale, VP and Head of HR, Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions.