Google increases family leave for employees to 14 weeks

Google is giving its workers eight extra weeks of paid leave to take care of their families as the coronavirus outbreak forces schools to remain closed.

The tech giant is now offering 14 weeks of additional leave due to the global pandemic, the company confirmed to CNN Business. Last month it gave two weeks of leave for caregivers in its workforce, with an option to take four more. Employees can take consecutive weeks off or adjust their working hours over several days, a spokesperson said.

The policy will only apply to Google's full-time global workforce — which numbers more than 100,000 — and not to its thousands of vendors and contractors, the spokesperson added.

Google (GOOG)'s move follows a similar one by tech rival Microsoft (MSFT), which last week gave its employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

The coronavirus has forced schools around the world to shut, with UNESCO estimating that school closures across 188 countries are impacting more than 91% of the world's student population — around 1.6 billion children and young adults. Several US states have extended school closures, with some governors already announcing schools will remain shut for the rest of the academic year.