Apple Expands Employee Benefit Programs in Health and Wellness, Education, and Philanthropy

Apple today has announced revisions to a number of components of its employee benefits packages in order to retain existing workers and attract new ones to the Cupertino company, reports Forbes. The changes, which target both full-time and part-time employees, were initiated by Human Resources vice president Denise Young Smith and detailed in an employee-wide memo shared with the publication.

"I don’t think these [benefits] would be immediately thought of," Young Smith told Fortune. "But for the first time we’ve probably got four generations in the workplace at the same time, and we need a plethora of programs."

New and updated benefits include perks such as educational reimbursements, expanded donation matching, and more. One major change is in the parental leave policy following the birth of a child. With the new policy, expectant mothers can take up to four weeks before a delivery and up to 14 weeks after a birth, while fathers and other non-birth parents are eligible for up to six weeks of parental leave.

The report also profiles Apple's new "wellness center" at its Cupertino headquarters designed to meet the medical needs of its employees. Employees can seek treatment while at work with appointment wait times as short as five minutes.

The head of HR says 43,000 employees have already visited the center, which opened about a year ago and employs seven doctors plus a large team of chiropractors, physical therapists and dieticians. [...] Doctors work out of a central "pod" in the middle of the building, surrounded by a circle of examination rooms, which they enter through a different door than their patients. Inside, the paperless, minimalistic exam rooms hold a small table with an iPad and Apple monitor (what else?).

Many of these changes have been spearheaded by Young Smith, who took over the lead human resources position earlier this year. Young Smith's emphasis on the company's employees is part of Tim Cook's overall focus on people as well as the products that make Apple successful.

Besides these expanded employee benefits, Apple also has been working to improve working conditions overseas, requiring factory manufacturers to provide safe working conditions as part of the company's Supplier Responsibility initiative.