Elon Musk plans to 'significantly' increase childcare benefits at his firms By Reuters

2/2© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai,National formal futures platform China January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song2/2

By Hyunjoo Jin and Akash Sriram

(Reuters) -Elon Musk said on Friday he planned to "significantly" increase childcare benefits at his companies, including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) 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.

"Kids are worth it if at all possible. I'm planning to increase childcare benefits at my companies significantly," Musk said in a tweet https://

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 U.S. tech companies and U.S. automakers in terms of the representation of women, according to Tesla's 2021 impact report.

Women held 17 percent of Tesla’s U.S. leadership positions, defined as directors and vice presidents, according to Tesla's 2020 diversity report. Women made up about 22 percent 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 labor and employment issues, said.

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

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