导读：
微软公司（Microsoft）作为美国科技公司中的佼佼者和“龙头股”，一向以它极其优厚的薪酬待遇闻名业界。最近微软宣布，将把原来只有全职员工才能享受的人性化的带薪育儿假制度也带给它在美国国内服务承包商的员工，真的可以说是“业界良心”了！今天就一起读一下英国《卫报》的相关新闻报道吧。
Microsoft has announced a policy requiring its contractors to offer employees a minimum of 12 weeks paid parental leave, paying them up to $1, 000 a week. This policy makes many employee happy.
In the last few years, Microsoft provides related support to its contractors. Microsoft has been under pressure to improve working conditions for contractors after some workers unionized in 2014 and started pushing for benefits like paid leave. In 2015, Microsoft announced it would require its suppliers to give their workers at least 15 days paid time off.
The company said that it wanted to give the same benefit offered by the legislation, which comes into effect in 2020, to contracted staff across the US. The company noted that the policy could increase its costs.
The policy will bring the parental leave benefits of affected contractors in line with those of full-time employees, who also get 12 weeks parental leave, while birth mothers get an additional eight weeks off.
“The case for paid parental leave is clear, ” said the company’s general counsel, Dev Stahlkopf, in a blogpost, citing various studies showing that it improves productivity, morale and retention of new mothers.
“Further, when men and women have the opportunity to take paid leave, it can help counteract gender caregiving stereotypes, neutralize stigmas and promote equity in the home and office, ” added Stahlkopf.
The United States is a country where paid leave is generally practiced, but it has relatively few paid days in the developed world, and there is no national law requiring employers to offer paid leave. A mature paid vacation system is an important indicator of a country's employee benefits. As a result, some semi-employees, short-term employees and hourly workers don't get paid time off. Due to the lack of uniform regulations, paid leave treatment of each institution is diverse and quite different. Thus, paid leave of government employees and paid leave of private enterprise employees are respectively introduced here. In the United States, government employees are divided into two categories: federal government and local government (state, county, city, etc.). The federal government has uniform regulations on paid leave, while local governments are independent. Federal employees get paid time off in two parts, one for official holidays and one for paid holidays. The 10 days of federal holidays in 2013 were New Year's Day, Martin Luther King's birthday, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. As a result, federal employees get 10 days of paid holiday leave, the same for every federal employee.
Many federal employees donate time off to people in need. The private sector as a whole is worse off than the government, with only 77% of private companies having paid leave in 2006, according to a new study titled 'no-vacation Nation' by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In these businesses, full-time employees get an average of 21 days of paid vacation per year (eight days of holiday plus 13 days of holiday), and half-time employees get an average of 15 days per year (six days of holiday plus nine days of holiday).In terms of enterprise size, the number of paid vacation days for small enterprises (less than 100 employees) is lower than that for medium and large enterprises (more than 100 employees). The average paid vacation days for small enterprises is 19 days, while that for medium and large enterprises is 23 days. In terms of wage income, low-wage employees have fewer paid days off than high-wage employees. For example, the average number of paid days off for employees under $15 an hour is 17, while the average number of paid days off for employees over $15 an hour is 23.
有用表达 useful expressions
has announced a policy 发布政策
a minimum of 12 weeks 不少于12周
paid parental leave 带薪年假
under pressure 在压力下
started pushing for benefits 开始争取利益
full-time employees 全职雇员
caregiving stereotypes 看护
neutralize stigmas 抵消耻辱
promote equity 促进平等
mature paid vacation system 成熟带薪假期体系
are divided into 被分为
donate time off 捐赠时间
参考译文：
微软最近宣布，将要求其承包商为员工提供至少 12 周，每周最高 1000 美元的带薪育儿假。
自从一些员工在 2014 年组建工会并开始争取有薪假期等福利制度之后，微软就已经感受到了改善外包雇员工作条件的压力。2015 年，微软曾宣布，要求供应商为其员工提供每年至少 15 天的带薪假期。
受到这项政策影响的外包员工的育儿假福利标准将与全职员工对齐。全职员工有 12 周的育儿假，而新妈妈们更能享受额外 8 周的假期。
微软首席法律顾问德夫·斯托尔考夫在一篇博文中表示，“推行带薪育儿假制度的优点十分明显”，并援引了一些研究来表明，带薪育儿假制度能够提升新妈妈们的工作效率、工作状态和留职比例。
斯托尔考夫还说：“除此之外，如果男性和女性员工都能享受带薪育儿假的福利，这更能帮助我们消除关于子女抚育中性别角色的固有观念和其带来的羞耻感，并在家庭和工作场合中促进性别平等。”
美国的带薪假期制度：
美国是一个普遍实行带薪休假制度的国家，不过，在发达国家中，美国的带薪休假日相对比较少，而且没有全国性的法律规定雇主一定要给员工带薪休假的福利。 成熟的带薪休假制度是衡量一个国家员工福利待遇的重要指标。那么美国带薪休假福利制度是怎样的-美国是一个普遍实行带薪休假制度的国家，不过，在发达国家中，美国的带薪休假日相对比较少，而且没有全国性的法律规定雇主一定要给员工带薪休假的福利。因此，一些半职雇员、短期雇员及小时工就享受不到带薪休假的福利。由于没有统一的规定，每个机构的 带薪休假待遇就五花八门，有较大的区别;因此，这里分别介绍政府雇员的带薪休假及私营企业雇员的带薪休假。 美国的政府雇员分为联邦政府及地方政府(州、县、市等)两大类，联邦政府对带薪休假有统一的规定，地方政府则各自为政，不过与联邦政府的待遇差不多，因此我们就介绍联邦政府雇员的带薪休假情况。 联邦政府雇员的带薪休假分为两部分，一是法定节日休假，一是有薪度假。2013年的联邦法定节日(即国定节日)一共有10天，这10天是元旦、马丁·路德·金生日、华盛顿生日、阵亡将士纪念日、独立日、劳工节、哥伦布日、退伍军人节、感恩节、圣诞节。因此，联邦雇员就有10天的带薪节日假，每个联邦雇员都一样。而带薪度假的时间长短，则根据工作年限来决定。
不少联邦雇员休不完假日，就会捐出休假给有需要的人。 私营企业的带薪休假从总体上说不及政府，根据“经济和政策研究中心”(Center for Economic and Policy Research)以“没有假期的国家”(No-Vacation Nation)为标题发表的最新研究报告显示，2006年只有77%的私营企业有带薪休假制度。在这些企业中，全职雇员每年平均有21天的带薪休假(8天节日加13天度假)，半职雇员每年平均有15天(6天节日加9天度假)。如果从企业规模来看的话，小企业(雇员人数不到100人)的带薪休假天数低于中大型企业(雇员人数超过100人)，小企业的平均带薪休假为19天，中大型企业为23天;从工资收入来看的话，低工资雇员的带薪休假天数少于高薪雇员。比如，时薪每小时15美元以下雇员的带薪休假平均为17天，而时薪超过每小时15美元的雇员的带薪休假平均为23天。
