Two American companies have decided to reduce a number of social benefits provided to their employees in the United States, including parental leave. The two companies in question are the giant consulting and auditing firm Deloitte and the teleconferencing company Zoom, which experienced significant growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. At Zoom, which employs over 7400 people, paid maternity leave has been reduced from 24 to 18 weeks, and paternity leave has been reduced from 16 to 10 weeks. Meanwhile, at Deloitte, parental leave for both parents will be reduced from 16 to 8 weeks starting in January 2027.
However, this reform only affects a portion of Deloitte’s 150,000 employees in the United States, specifically those working in administrative, IT, and financial services. The changes at Deloitte also include a reduction of 10 days in the number of paid sick leave offered to female employees, as well as the cancellation of a $50,000 reimbursement for adoption, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy expenses – which are legal in certain US states.
While the companies have not yet revealed the reasons behind their decisions, they have faced criticism, including from entrepreneurs. Sara Mauskopf, founder of Winnie, a childcare services platform based in San Francisco, expressed disappointment, saying, “We had made so much progress towards making work more parent-friendly, and yet these last two years, it feels like everything is being questioned.” She emphasized the importance of parental leave in career decisions and the choice to support certain companies.
In the United States, there is no federal mandatory parental leave system. While the Family and Medical Leave Act protects job security, it does not provide any financial compensation and only applies to companies with at least 50 employees. This puts American new parents at the mercy of their employer’s policies. According to the US Department of Labor in March 2023, only 27% of employees were benefiting from paid family leave provided by their employer.
The actions taken by Deloitte and Zoom are part of a larger trend among several major American companies that are cutting back on certain employee benefits. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for example, reduced the stock grants for employees by 5% in February 2026, and an increasing number of companies are revising their remote work policies. These changes are happening against the backdrop of a sluggish American labor market and the disruptions caused by the integration of artificial intelligence in businesses.
