Just a week after Facebook, Inc. FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that he will be taking a two-month parental leave, the company has extended the privilege to all its employees.
Facebook has announced that beginning 2016 all employees (that is irrespective of gender or location) will be able to take four months of paid leave to bond with their newborn. The leave can be taken any time after the birth of the child to up to a period of one year.
So far, only employees in the U.S. could avail the four-month maternity/ paternity leave, while in other countries the paternity leave was only up to four weeks.
According to the company’s human resources chief Lori Matloff Goler, "This expanded benefit primarily affects new fathers and people in same-sex relationships outside the U.S."
In addition, the social media giant is already giving a bonus of $4,000 for parents of new babies. The company will be offering all these perks even in the case of adoption.
These developments will strengthen Facebook’s image as a company with work-family balance, allowing it to improve its employee retention and attract new talent.
As Goler states, “We want to be there for our people at all stages of life, and in particular we strive to be a leading place to work for families.”
Such an initiative by Facebook would also likely act as a trigger for other Internet companies, a number of which are already reconsidering their policies to retain talent amid a competitive scenario.
In the past few months, other key players in the tech space that have updated their parental policies include Microsoft MSFT, Apple AAPL, Netflix NFLX and Spotify among others.
At present, Facebook carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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