As workers take on growing responsibilities, many are left with little to no time to spend caring for their families. Moreover, grieving employees aren’t given enough time to take care of themselves and their loved ones, and those who are caring for a sick child or family member have no choice but to take some time off, knowing that they won’t be compensated for all the days that they miss work.
But Facebook is changing all that as the social media site’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said earlier this week that the company would be giving all of its employees six weeks of family leave to take care of sick family members. The COO also announced other leave benefits, such as three days of additional time off for employees caring for a family member with a short-term illness, and 20 days of bereavement leave.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, Sandberg told a packed crowd at the Makers conference that this is personal for her. She drew on the personal tragedy of the loss of her husband, Dave Goldberg, and said that Facebook’s generous leave policy helped her as she needed time to recover.
“I lost my husband very suddenly,” said Sandberg at the women’s leadership event sponsored by AOL in California (via Huffington Post). “Facebook provided leave and flexibility, and now we’re doing more.”
It was reported that the “Lean In” author was back to work 10 days after Goldberg died in 2015.
On her Facebook page, the 47-year-old said the majority of employees in the United States do not work for companies that provide bereavement leave and flexibility, and this is why she is grateful that Facebook was able to both to her when she needed it.
“People should be able to work and be there for their families,” said Sandberg. “I hope more companies will join us and others making similar moves, because America’s families deserve support.”
For more, check out Jobs & Hire’s report on the recent projects that Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are funding.
