Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Thursday that he would double paid maternity leave for U.S. service members from six to 12 weeks as part of his initiative to recruit and retain the best troops.
Carter said the extra time off will put the military among the top tier of companies in the benefits they give to new moms.
“Certainly offering a more generous standard for maternity leave is imperative for attracting and retaining talent,” Carter said during a briefing at the Pentagon. “We see the same phenomenon year after year, women at peak ages for starting a family leave the military at the highest rates.”
He said women are retained at a rate 30 percent lower than their male counterparts during the prime years to start a family and cite work-family conflict as the top reason for their separation.
Carter said the extra leave will be healthy for new moms, giving them time to recover, bond with their new babies and return to the military as more productive members of the workforce.
The force-wide 12-week standard will be a downgrade for the Navy and Marine Corps, which announced last year that they would up their paid maternity leave to 18 weeks.
Carter announced several reforms as part of his Force of the Future initiative on Thursday afternoon, including expanding paternity leave for new dads from 10 to 14 days, expanding the leave available to military members who are adopting, and extending childcare hours at Defense Department-subsidized child development centers.
