Parag Agarwal, chief executive of Twitter Inc., announced this week that he would take a few weeks off from the birth of his second child. Many are praising him for breaking the taboo among top executives on paternity leave. Others say he can’t go too far with the plan.
Agarwal’s announcement indicates how fast the rules are changing in US companies. But at the same time, the biggest question that has arisen is why Agarwal is not taking the 20-week leave that Twitter is giving. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit Inc., called on Agarwal, “Take as much time as you can (leave).” Others say that if Agarwal takes more leave, the workers will also think that they will get such leave.
Alexis Ohanian is one of the most talked about people on paternity leave. “You can’t share paternity leave like this,” he wrote on Twitter. Take a few weeks off first to make sure everything is going well at home. After that, take leave every Friday and use the rest of the holiday. ‘
Employees of Venture Capital Firm Initialized Capital, another company owned by Alexis Ohanian, now receive four months of paternity leave. In October last year, its co-founder Gary Tan said he would take a full four months of paternity leave, so that all employees could take their leave at ease.
Parag Agarwal took over from Twitter’s chief technology officer in November last year. He replaces Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Twitter spokeswoman Laura Yagerman said: “Agarwal will be associated with Twitter executives while on paternity leave.”
“On Twitter, we encourage and fully support employees to take paternity leave in the same way that it is best to take leave,” he said in a statement.
Under US federal government rules, paternity leave is not restricted. However, the Biden administration’s draft “Build Back Better Plan” provides for 12 weeks of paternity leave. Later, of course, it was done four weeks. Only 23 percent of public and private employees in the United States receive this leave.