Elon Musk plans to ‘significantly’ increase childcare benefits at his firms

The billionaire, who has nine children, said that his foundation plans to donate directly to families

By Reuters

Published: Fri 8 Jul 2022, 9:48 PM

Elon Musk said on Friday he planned to “significantly” increase childcare benefits at his companies, including Tesla Inc, and that the details would be likely announced next month.

His comments came a day after Musk tweeted that he will do his best to help the underpopulation crisis, following a media report that said he had secret twins with one of his top executives.

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“Kids are worth it if at all possible. I’m planning to increase childcare benefits at my companies significantly,” Musk said in a tweet.

The billionaire, who has nine children, said that his foundation, of which he is president, plans to donate directly to families, without providing additional details.

Tesla lags behind other US tech companies and US automakers in terms of the representation of women, according to Tesla’s 2021 impact report.

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Women held 17 per cent of Tesla’s US leadership positions, defined as directors and vice-presidents, according to Tesla’s 2020 diversity report. Women made up about 22 per cent of executives at other S&P 500 companies, according to a 2020 report published by researcher Equileap.

Some experts raised concern that Musk’s recent return to office order could further undermine the representation of women, who are open to the flexibility in working from home.

“Even though the policy’s neutral on its face, it could have a discriminatory impact on women and disabled people,” Melissa Atkins, a partner at Obermayer who represents clients on a variety of labour and employment issues, said.

Musk in late May asked employees to work in the office at least 40 hours a week, or leave. Tesla’s policy is contrast to those of many tech companies and automakers, which offer a mixture of in-office and remote work.