Facebook, the social networking giant has announced it is extending its parental leave policy to full-time employees outside the United States. Here is a good news for all the currently working full-time employees of Facebook around the world will now be given four months of paid parental family leave. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that he would be taking two months of paternity leave to look after his new baby. Less than a week after the announcement, the tech giant company announced it is extending its parental leave policy to full-time employees outside the United States.

The current policy of Facebook is, the employees can take parental leave for two months and now it has extended the leave to four months. This will allow some new parents in the US to take up to four months off. Now Facebook is expanding that policy to include all new parents in the company who work full-time, regardless of gender or location.

Facebook Rolls out New Policy by January 1, 2016

Facebook is the most modern major tech company to greatly improve or expand its parental leave policy. The change places paternity leave outside the US on standard with maternity leave at Facebook workplaces around the world and extends the benefit to same-sex couples. The new policy, which offers four months of paid time off, will be provided to all new parents regardless of gender or location, starting January 1.

“Employees may take leave at any point up to a year after the birth of their child,” Lori Matloff Goler, the company’s head of human resources, said in a Facebook post late Wednesday.

The change “primarily affects new fathers and people in same-sex relationships outside the US,” added Lori Matloff Goler.

Zuckerberg announced in July that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were expecting a baby girl and they have not said when the baby is due. Last week, Zuckerberg said he would take two months off after his daughter’s birth. His announcement was seen in Silicon Valley which indicates a great endorsement from a tech giant company  top executive’s concern and the importance of family time.

When major companies like Facebook and Spotify openly announce such improvements to their employee benefits, the issue turns more severe for other firms to overlook. So, other technology companies in Silicon Valley have been hurrying to extend parental leave allowances and other benefits to help recruit and retain employees. This past summer Netflix announced a new unlimited maternity and paternity leave policy. Shortly after, Amazon announced it would be implementing its first-ever paternal leave policy for new birth and adoptive fathers.

However, many of the high-tech workers do not show interest to take advantage of such benefits due to the worry of falling behind at work or dropping out on promotions. The benefits of the new parental leave policy will apply to employees beginning January 1st, 2016.