Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to take two months of paternity leave when his second daughter is born.
Zuckerberg announced his leave in a Facebook post late Friday, saying he had also taken two months leave when his first daughter, Max, was born in 2015.
“I will always be grateful I could spend so much time with her in the first months of her life. Our new daughter is coming soon, and I’m planning to take two months of paternity leave again,” Zuckerberg said.
The CEO said he will take a month off to be with his wife Priscilla and daughters at the beginning, and then spend the whole month of December together as well.
“At Facebook, we offer four months of maternity and paternity leave because studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, it’s good for the entire family. And I’m pretty sure the office will still be standing when I get back,” he wrote.
Though it does not seem interesting to pay attention to a CEO’s personal life, parental leave remains a controversial concept in the US, given its lack of legislative support from the government.
It also entails cultural stigma around employees, especially those in executive leadership, taking time off from work, The Verge reported.
Only 14 per cent of civilian workers had access to paid family leave, and the first state to establish mandated paid family leave was California in 2004, according to a 2017 study from Pew Research.
Standard family leave policies in Canada, Europe, and elsewhere are much more generous on average, the research added.
Facebook offers up to four months leave for new parents. The leave period can be split up throughout the first year of a new child’s birth.