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JPMorgan just made a big change to try to make itself a better place to work
(JPMorgan Chase shareholder letter)
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
JPMorgan is going to let employees take a little more parental leave.
On Thursday, the firm told its workers it would increase fully paid parental leave for primary caregivers in the US to 16 weeks from 12.
Nonprimary caregivers will get two weeks off instead of one.
The changes will apply to eligible employees who have become parents since December.
"We wanted to be known as a company where health is really part of our overall culture," JPMorgan's head of human resources, John Donnelly, told Business Insider.
"It's something that Jamie Dimon talks about all the time," he added, referring to the JPMorgan CEO.
"First and foremost, take care of your health. Not just physical health, but mental health and mental well-being. Take care of your family — however you define family. If you mess up either the first two, it'll probably be hard to have a great career anyway."
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Donnelly said his team came up with the new policy after speaking with members of the firm's women's networking groups.
He said that last year about 6,500 US employees went on parental leave. Of those, about 4,500 were primary caregivers.
"A lot of people in our demographic are having children, and this is something that just helps support them at these critical moments that take place in life," he said.
JPMorgan also increased bereavement leave for a death in the family to five days.
Numerous banks have been changing their parental-leave policies of late. Goldman Sachs provides 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, according to its website, and last year it increased its paid parental leave for nonprimary parents to four weeks.
Morgan Stanley provides 16 weeks of paid parental leave to primary caregivers. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, meanwhile, provides 12 weeks of paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave to employees who have been with the firm for more than a year. Citi offers 13 weeks of pregnancy leave and two weeks of parental leave for secondary caregivers.
The changes are being made to try to help workers maintain a better work-life balance — and to make the firms more attractive places to work. JPMorgan on Thursday also announced new guidelines encouraging investment bankers to not come into the office on weekends.
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