Twitter Just Announced a More Generous Parental Paid-Leave Policy

Twitter is the latest company to adopt a more inclusive parental leave approach, joining the likes of Etsy, Facebook and many others. On April 5, Twitter announced its new “gender-neutral” policy, which guarantees any new parent up to 20 weeks of fully paid time off.

Why the change? Because family structures aren’t what they used to be, and allowing for more evenly distributed parenting, no matter what the parent’s gender or sexual preference, “equals happier employees,” according to a Fortune exclusive about the new policy.

“The goal of this change was to expand how we think about parental leave,” Jeffrey Siminoff, Twitter’s newly appointed VP of inclusion and diversity, told Fortune. He adds that “primary caregiving is something that’s hard to define.”

The policy will go into effect in Twitter’s U.S. offices on May 1. The company’s current policy gives birth mothers 20 weeks of paid time off but gives fathers and adoptive parents only 10 weeks off.

Read more: Why Dads Need To Be Part of The Work-Life Balance Conversation, Too

To help employees adjust to the new policy, Twitter’s director of compensation and benefits, Laura Brady, says the company is “looking into bringing in outside trainers to help managers understand how to manage their team and workloads under the more generous parental leave policy.”

“We’re a very watched industry because of the products and services we offer,” Siminoff told Fortune. “We want to lead by example, and by doing so we can influence the decisions of others.”