But while these new perks undoubtedly help ease the burden of new motherhood for working moms, it's hard to ignore that the US still doesn't support some pretty basic needs.
This point was made particularly clear by something Domo's CEO Josh James told Fortune last week.
James said that because Domo is a young company, it can't provide parental leave benefits comparable to those offered by more established companies like Netflix, which offers "unlimited" paid leave for up to a year after a child's birth. In the absence of a federal paid leave policy, the burden has fallen to companies to help new parents thrive, and for some, offering the paid parental leave that families need isn't plausible.
According to Fortune, Domo gives new moms one month of paid leave and six weeks of partially paid leave, while new dads get two weeks of paid leave.
"So the wardrobe perk is aimed at sweetening the deal it offers new parents," Fortune reports.
But are these perks really helping new parents, or are they merely a consolation prize?
Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values @ Work, tells Business Insider she applauds Domo for finding creative ways to support pregnant women in the absence of a federal leave policy. She further encourages companies like Domo "to join the many business voices supporting a public policy like the FAMILY Act to create a family and medical leave insurance fund."
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(Flickr via pagedooley) In the US, many parents choose between spending time with their new babies and losing out on wages.
As Bravo explains, many companies aren't in a position to offer a full year of paid leave.
Eileen Appelbaum, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, tells Business Insider that "there is no simple answer" to the question of cost to a company that would offer paid parental leave without a governmental policy in place.
Companies can buy temporary disability insurance for their employees, she explains, which is a lot cheaper than paying full wages to a woman on maternity leave, but this may still be expensive.
And right now there is no insurance policy available that would cover the pay of new fathers bonding with the baby or for care of a seriously ill child or family member, she explains. Those costs fall on the employer currently and vary with the length of leave provided and the pay of workers taking said leave.
Bravo says with a federal family and medical leave insurance fund, employees and employers would pool small contributions so affordable leave is available to any employee.
We've already seen similar policies work on a state level.
In 2004, California became the first state to implement a paid-family-leave policy that enables most working Californians to receive 55% of their usual salary (up to $1,104) for a maximum of six weeks.
According to a report last year from the President's Council of Economic Advisers, more than 90% of employers affected by California's paid-family-leave initiative reported either positive or no noticeable effect on profitability, turnover, and morale.
New Jersey and Rhode Island have also actualized similar state programs.
New Jersey's family leave program is financed totally by worker payroll deductions, and employers don't contribute to the program. Each worker contributes 0.09% of their taxable wage base, and the maximum yearly deduction for Family Leave Insurance is $28.80.
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(Fiona Goodall / Getty) On a state level, paid family leave insurance has seen positive results already.
A study from the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University found that women who had taken advantage of New Jersey's paid-family-leave policy were far more likely than mothers who hadn't to be working nine to 12 months after the birth of their child.
The study also found these women to be 39% less likely to receive public assistance and 40% less likely to receive food stamps in the year following a child's birth compared to those who didn't take any leave.
The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act would take paid family and medical leave to the national level.
The current proposal would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave each year to qualifying workers for the birth or adoption of a new child, the serious illness of an immediate family member, or a worker's own medical condition.
Workers would be eligible to collect benefits equal to 66% of their typical monthly wages, and employees and employers both would contribute about $1.50 per week for a typical worker.
But while we know that there is a need for greater family benefits in this country, that paid family leave benefits everyone, and that government-implemented family leave insurance policies can work, we're still waiting for US policymakers to catch up.
