As I’m writing this post, I’m halfway through my parental leave. A five-month fully paid parental time off, kindly provided by my current employer, Automattic. Precious time to spend with my newborn twins and be there with them as they grow.
Parental leaves in Bulgaria according to local laws
In Bulgaria, mommies are allowed to take up to 2 years, plus all the accumulated time off for the period while they’re away. However, daddies are allowed to take only 15 days. Not even 15 workdays, but just 15 calendar days, and that’s all.
If you ask me, it’s not enough to even overcome the initial shock and confusion of having a little newborn at home, not to mention twins. It’s also far from enough time to be able to build a routine and actually start enjoying life with the new family members.
Parental leave in Automattic
Luckily, I work for Automattic, and any Automattician* can benefit from this truly amazing perk. We’re allowed to take up to 6 months of paid parental leave if we’ve been with the company for at least a year (and I’ve been around for 4 years already, yay!). During that time, we’re still paid the full compensation, and we’re even encouraged to be fully off and to enjoy this exciting time with the family. Isn’t that just great?
As flexible as possible
We all know, when we’re planning a longer interval of time off, that often needs preparation and proper planning at work. Even if we’re talking about a 2-week vacation. Not to mention when we’re talking about a 3-month leave, or a 5-month one, like mine.
But it’s also true that babies tend to come out whenever they want, disobeying any plans we make. That being said, I was delighted to find out that everyone — my team, my team lead, and the HR wrangler responsible for me — were extremely flexible for when I’d start my leave.
My twins were born on March 19th, and just several days later – on March 24th, my leave had already started. I could already rest assured that all my work duties are fully handled by my teammates, and I’d be able to disconnect fully from work, to enjoy some great time with my family that had just doubled.
A gift to be thankful for
I’m infinitely thankful for the opportunity to spend the first months of my babies closely together with them. They’ll never be so little, and being around them as they grow and become more and more interesting is unparalleled. Thanks a bunch for this wonderful gift, Automattic!
Interested? We’re hiring.
It’s worth mentioning that this is only one of the many brilliant perks that Automattic provides. If all this sounds very interesting to you, you’ll likely be interested to know that we’re always hiring for a variety of interesting positions.
Curious to find out more? Take a look at our current open positions.
* Automattician, a11n – a person, working at Automattic.
Yay! Congratulations on the twins, Marin. 😀 I hope the little ones and mother are doing well.
Thanks, Arun! Everyone’s doing well, thanks 🙂 I’m planning to post some photos soon. I hope you’re also doing well in these stressful times!
Congrats, daddy Marin! So happy for you and your beautiful wife 💜
Thank you, Kat! 😍