Hilton hotels expands paid leave for new parents

Hilton is expanding paid parental leave for its workers, and the time off is the same for maids as it is for corporate executives.

The hotel chain is tacking on an additional two weeks of paid parental leave for U.S. full-time workers, increasing from 10 weeks to 12 weeks for birth mothers and doubling to four weeks the time off being given to new fathers and people who are adopting a child.

"We're not differentiating — it's the same for housekeepers as in the C-suite," Hilton Chief Talent Officer Laura Fuentes told CBS MoneyWatch of the revamped policy being introduced by the hospitality chain on Monday. 

Hilton's move follows similar efforts by other organizations to make life easier for new parents. Target in June said the retailer's 360,000 salaried and hourly workers, including part-time employees, would get up to four weeks of paid time off to care for a new or ailing family member. And the National Football League last month said the roughly 1,000 workers who staff its offices in Los Angeles, New Jersey and New York could take up to 16 weeks of paid time to welcome a new family member. 

Not everyone who works for the Hilton brand is entitled to the expanded perk — just over 35,000 of the company's U.S. workforce of 285,000 are eligible. That's because more than two-thirds of its U.S. workforce are employed by independently owned and operated franchisees. And, while Hilton directly employs roughly 73,000 in the U.S., only those who work full-time and have been with the company at least a year are eligible. 

A global company, Hilton employs about 420,000 people around the world. The expanded leave benefit extends across the company's 17 brands, which include Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton and Embassy Suites by Hilton.

The company is also partnering with Milk Stork to give traveling employees a means to more easily ship or carry breast milk home to their infants, along with training videos to help employees make the transition to parenting. Hilton three years ago enhanced its benefits to offer $10,000 to support employee adoptions, something hundreds have made use of, Fuentes said.