Online retailer Etsy joined other tech giants when it announced generous paternity leave policies on Tuesday, expanding paid time off to 6 months to all employees regardless of gender. Etsy has its employees undergo cross-training in order to cover for vacations and sick leaves, as well as keeping a budget available to hire temporary employees. More tech companies are offering expanded leave partly out of competition to attract employees in a fierce labor market, and partly because as companies become global, their leave policies need to match what other countries are offering. The U.S. is the only OECD country that doesn’t legislate paid paternity leave. Proponents for paid leave argue that a national policy is needed to help employees who don’t work for companies that offer adequate leave policies.
See "Why Tech Is the Leading Industry on Parental Leave", Bourree Lam, The Atlantic, March 17, 2016