Adobe joins tech companies extending parental leave

Adobe on Monday said it would extend its paid parental leave policy, with the announcement coming on the heels of Netflix, which said it would offer corporate employees up to a year of paid leave to care for the newly born.

While not exactly a trend, given paid leave is actually on the decline in the U.S., a smattering of technology companies have made similar moves in recent days.

A day after Netflix (NFLX) made its announcement, Microsoft (MSFT) said it would increase its benefits for U.S. employees, including offering more paid leave to new parents.

Adobe Systems (ADBE) said it will offer parents who are the primary caregivers 16 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. That's in addition to 10 weeks of paid medical leave following childbirth, so a new mother could take a total of 26 weeks off.

Non-primary caregivers will receive four weeks with full pay.

Adobe will also cover up to 4 weeks of family leave to care for a sick family member.

The new policy applies to Adobe's 6,000 U.S. employees and it is effective Nov. 1.

Research conducted in 2014 listed America as one of only two countries out of 185 around the world for which data is available that doesn't offer paid maternity leave to new mothers.

In June, Virgin Management took the step of allowing its employees who are new parents to take up to 52 weeks of parental leave at 100 percent pay.