Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and chief executive of the famous social network: Facebook, claimed last Friday that he was going to take two months paternity leave once his daughter is born. In a post on the social network, Mr. Zuckerberg argues that “studies show than when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for children and families”. He also reminded that Facebook employees can take up to 4 months paid paternity leave that can be spread throughout the year of birth of the child. His post on Facebook was linked an incredible 300 000 times.
At the end of the summer, Netflix announced their employees could take up to a year of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Companies use comprehensive parental leave as a way to attract more talents.
Other CEOs such as Marissa Mayer for example hardly take any time off after giving birth. She had been greatly criticized when she had her first child and only took two weeks off work.
New rules have been put in place since April in the UK allowing fathers to boost their two weeks paternity leave to up to 50 weeks. This leave is to be split between the couple and can be taken at any time before the child’s first birthday. More than six months after putting in place this new law, only 2% of British companies have seen a significant uptake of extra father parental leave. One of the fears of taking extra time off work for men can be that their commitment will be questioned by managers who see childcare as a women’s job.
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