Unity offers expanded parental leave to U.S. employees

Today, Unity announced via a blog post from its chief people officer Elizabeth Brown that the company will offer 12 weeks fully paid leave to parents who have, or legally adopt, new children. The new policy is retroactively applied to January 1, 2016.

"This policy takes a page from the handbook of countries like Sweden -- one of the most gender equal countries in the world – where men take a more active role in raising children," writes Brown. In fact, the company has an office in Stockholm. 

This news comes in the wake of Electronic Arts' expansion of paid parental leave to 10 weeks, which the company announced earlier this month.

The parental leave discussion heated up late last year, when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to take two months of paternity leave when his daughter Max was born.

Of course, a significant portion of Unity's staff is outside the U.S. -- its core engine development takes place in Copenhagen, where the company was originally founded; Denmark has very generous policies as regards parental leave.