EY is introducing new financial benefits for working parents, including financial assistance of up to $25,000 per family for adoption, reproductive technology procedures, and medically-necessary egg and sperm freezing.
The financial assistance will be available to all U.S. employees starting Jan. 1, 2017.
The global consultancy is also extending its paid parental leave by four weeks, bringing it up to a total of 16 weeks, from July 1, 2016. The parental leave is available to employees welcoming a child through birth, adoption, surrogacy, foster care or legal guardianship.
Read: How to bridge the parental leave divide
“Traditional gender responsibilities at work and home are evolving and resulting in the need for more progressive parental leave policies to better support women and men in the workplace,” said Karyn Twaronite, global diversity and inclusiveness officer at EY, in a news release.
“With this in mind, we’ve expanded our parental leave benefits to enable all of our people to have the flexibility they need to manage their family needs, career demands and transitions, while continuing to experience dynamic career opportunities and development.”
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EY currently offers employees family coaching, as well as access to resources and professional networks.
“We’ve learned through our Global People Survey that our working parents are our most engaged U.S. employees,” said Stephen R. Howe Jr., chairman and Americas managing partner at EY, in the same release. “We want to continue to support everyone in this group.”
The U.S.’s Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period to care for a newborn, adopted or foster child. However, the law only applies to those who work for private employers with 50 or more employees.
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