Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday that beginning Jan. 1 it will offer at least 16 weeks paid maternity leave to its female employees worldwide.
The policy will particularly boost benefits for employees in 45 countries where there are only limited paid or unpaid maternity leave benefits, such as in the United States.
On its recruitment website, the oil giant said the policy is designed to attract, and keep, women in the work force. Claire Punins, an exploration geologist for Shell, championed a maternity leave standard at Shell, according to an article on the company’s website.
“All women should receive the support they need as new mothers, regardless of where they are in the world,” Punins wrote. “Having a global maternity standard at Shell is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes business sense. It makes us more attractive to women seeking jobs, and means they stay with us for longer.”
The policy will particularly boost benefits for employees in 45 countries where there are only limited paid or unpaid maternity leave benefits, such as in the United States.
In recent years, many U.S. companies have offered longer, paid maternity leave to employees, staying a step ahead of federal law, which requires companies with 50 or more employees to offer 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. As of last year, only 12 percent of U.S. employees had access to paid family leave, although paid parental leave (for women and men) is becoming more common in industries like technology, where competition for workers is fierce.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
