Following a handful of other tech companies, Twitter is now offering an extended parental leave policy for full-time employees. All full-time new parents will receive 20 weeks fully paid leave.
The policy goes into effect May 1 in the U.S. and everywhere else on July 1. This on the same day that San Francisco became the first U.S. city to mandate all businesses provide fully paid parental leave.
The announcement comes on the heels of a New York bill mandating paid family leave for 12 weeks for most employees. Additionally, late last year Facebook extended its family leave policy—right around the time CEO Mark Zuckerberg became a new dad—to four months of paid baby leave for all new parents. Etsy recently updated its parental leave to a full 26 weeks for new parents, and in 2015, Netflix introduced an unlimited family leave policy.
“We’re removing traditional gender and family stereotypes by extending our leave benefits to all parents, no matter the form parenthood takes,” Jeffrey Siminoff, vice president of inclusion and diversity at Twitter said in an emailed statement to the Daily Dot. “Our benefits and culture are designed to help lessen the challenges all new parents face and broaden the reach of who’s covered.”
Twitter’s previous policy included 20 weeks maternity leave and 10 weeks for fathers or parents of adopted children.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to provide additional clarity and context.
