Facebook Mark Zuckerberg would be laying low on the social media site and company he founded for two months. The reason behind his planned hiatus is to take care of his first-born after wife Priscilla Chan gives birth.
He announced it on Friday with a post that reads, "This is a very personal decision, and I've decided to take 2 months of paternity leave when our daughter arrives," quotes USA Today. He cited studies, which say that working parents who spend time with their newborns experience better outcomes for their kids and the family, as the reason behind his leave.
His post got almost 70,000 likes in 60 minutes, reports CNET.
Actually, Zuckerberg is availing only half of Facebook's four-month maximum paternity leave - one of the most generous in the country - that could be availed any time during the first 12 months after the birth of the child. Google has a maximum of 18 weeks and Microsoft 12 weeks. But the company that tops paternity leave term is Netflix with 12 months.
Anticipating the baby, the would-be first-time father says that things are getting more real for him and Priscilla, a medical doctor, as they day approaches. "We're excited to start this next stage in our lives," adds the CEO who announced in July that his wife is pregnant.
The grant of longer parental leave is seen as a way of keeping male employees in the corporate world, especially in Silicon Valley. However, in the case of Zuckerberg, he owns the company, so he does not risk losing his job if he uses the four months. Besides Zuckerberg, other CEOs of top tech firms who have recently availed of maternity leave are Marissa Mayer of Yahoo and Susan Wokcickji of YouTube.