Dow Announces Enhancements to Support the Balance of Work and Family and Help Working Parents Thrive

Expanded policy reinforces Dow’s strong support for employees and
their families

MIDLAND, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) today announced enhancements to its
Global Parental Leave Policy, providing greater flexibility and
work-life balance for mothers and fathers. Parents have a minimum 12
weeks of paid leave for the mother and two weeks of paid leave for the
non-birthing parent, which can be taken during the 12 months following
the birth of a child.

“At Dow, we are committed to providing benefits that help our employees
thrive,” said Johanna Söderström, Dow chief human resources officer.
“This expanded policy reinforces Dow’s strong support for the well-being
of its employees and their families.”

“A 12-week global minimum maternity leave policy supports Dow’s Health
Strategy and the recommendations of global medical experts for a
balanced family life and a focused, productive employee, as well as
adequate time to ensure that a child’s wellbeing is properly provided
for when the mother returns to work,” said Catherine Baase, M.D., Dow’s
chief medical officer.

Flexibility Puts Families First

Dow encourages a work schedule which assists new parents with adjusting
to a new family member while simultaneously providing an opportunity to
remain engaged in the workplace. This enhanced policy includes benefits
designed with flexibility for the family in mind.

• Parental leave following the birth of a child can be used in
  consecutive weeks or periods as needed by the family upon approval of
  the leader and country-specific regulations.
• Mothers will work with their leaders to identify ways to gradually
  return to work and ease the transition to full-time responsibilities.
  The policy also supports requests to limit travel for new mothers
  during the first year following the birth of a child.
• Dow will provide resources to assist nursing mothers who are required
  to travel for company business through reimbursement of the cost of
  packaging and shipping of breast milk.

Additional Resources Support the Balance of Work and Family

Dow also provides many additional resources for working parents,
including four weeks of paid time off for adoptive parents, adoption
expense reimbursement, company-wide nursing rooms and breast pump
assistance, a family illness policy, and counseling and support through
its Health Services group.

The Company was recently named to the 2015
Working Mother 100 Best Companies list. This award honors companies
that demonstrate a commitment to progressive workplace programs,
including advancement of women, flexibility and paid parental leave.

About Dow

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to
passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company
is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of
chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the
world’s most challenging problems such as the need for clean water,
clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural
productivity. Dow’s integrated, market-driven, industry-leading
portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and
plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products
and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in
high-growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and
agriculture. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than $58 billion and
employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company’s more than
6,000 product families are manufactured at 201 sites in 35 countries
across the globe. References to “Dow” or the “Company” mean The Dow
Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise
expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

^®TM Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an
affiliated company of Dow

Contacts

The Dow Chemical Company
Sarah Blodgett, +1 989 636 9323
SSBlodgett@dow.com
or
Carie
LaFond, +1 989 636 2680
CELafond@dow.com