Facebook extends parental leave policy for all employees globally

Facebook has extended parental leave policy for all its full-time employees globally, something to be thankful about in time.

The social networking giant this week made announced the new policy offering four months of paid leave to all its employees worldwide, who are becoming new parents, reports Mashable.

"This expanded benefit primarily affects new fathers and people in same-sex relationships outside the US," said Lori Matloff Goler, Facebook's head of human resources, in a Facebook post making the announcement.

"In reviewing our parental leave policies, we have decided to make this change because it's the right thing to do for our people and their families," he also said.

Nearly 12,000 people were working for Facebook in total at the end of the third quarter, with many of them scattered around the globe from Dublin to Delhi to Dubai, each with different and in some cases worse experiences for parental leave.

In Dublin, for example, where Facebook has almost 1,000 employees, provision for parental leave lagged away behind other European countries. Ireland just made a move this month to provide two weeks of paid leave to new fathers, a step far behind what Facebook has offered.

In India, where Facebook continues to grow with its user base, new mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave at present despite proposals to more than double that, while for new fathers it is up to 15 days.

The announcement came just days after Mark Zuckerberg, the cofounder and CEO of Facebook, announced to be taking two months of paternity leave after the birth of his first child.

"This is a very personal decision, and I've decided to take 2 months of paternity leave when our daughter arrives," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month.

The announcement set off a very public and positive reaction.

"It's hard to overstate what a big deal this is," the Chicago Tribune reports, adding "In making this choice so publicly, he's also done a major solid for the men (and women, and children) of America. That's because he's helping to finally destigmatize paternity leave."

Facebook continues to build on this to further distinguish itself at a time when the largest technology companies in the world, such as Microsoft, Apple, Spotify, Netflix and Adobe, are in an arms race over perks for new parents in recent months.