SINGAPORE: Nine Swedish multinationals will double pay parental leave to four weeks for employees in Singapore.
According to a joint pledge made by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Singapore SwedCham, this will take effect next year. The nine companies are ABB, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco, Bolon x The Andrews Group, Electrolux, H&M, Mentor Media, Oriflame and SKF.
In Singapore, working mothers are entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave while fathers are entitled to two weeks of paid paternity leave as mandated by the Ministry of Manpower.
AstraZeneca Singapore country president Vinod Narayanan said that gender roles at home have evolved due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
He said that companies should take another step forward by encouraging fathers to take more active roles in the early months of a child's life because more people are embracing these changes.