The 50 Best Places to Work For New Dads 2018: Microsoft

Fatherly’s annual “50 Best Places to Work for New Dads” ranking is a celebration of corporations committed to helping men manage their dual roles as providers and caregivers. Though only one company can be ranked number one, every company featured has provided real support for working parents with exceptional and thoughtful offerings.

Microsoft

Rank: 21

2017 Rank: 17Number of Employees: 124,293 GloballyMedian Salary: $145,978

Microsoft may feel like an old-school tech company, but it has a decidedly new-school approach to employee benefits. Based in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft offers 12 weeks of fully-paid parental leave to its employees, many of whom live in the very family-friendly Seattle suburbs.

In January, Microsoft announced that it was increasing adoption assistance benefit from $5,000 to $10,000 per adopted child, which also covers some surrogacy expenses. Microsoft does not offer onsite childcare to parents but they offer “near-site” solutions, plus childcare subsidies and discounts at several daycare centers. They also provide assistance to parents with special needs children, as employees are given access to Autism/ABA therapy and a program through Rethink for assistance with children with learning or behavioral challenges.

Fatherly’s 2018 rankings are based on a scoring metric inclusive of data related to company policies on the following issues: paid parent leave, ramp-back time, flextime, onsite childcare, childcare subsidies, backup childcare, number of sick days, support groups, fertility aid, adoption aid, student loan assistance, education funding, bereavement leave, elder care planning. Length of paid leave, onsite childcare, and ramp-back time were the most heavily weighted ranking factors.