TechCrunch: Facebook Announces Paid Family Sick Leave and New Bereavement Benefits for Employees

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced on Tuesday that the company will be making changes its employee benefits. According to a recent TechCrunch article , the company will be increasing the days for paid leave for employees to grieve a family member or care for a sick relative.

“Starting today, Facebook employees will have up to 20 days paid leave to grieve an immediate family member, up to 10 days to grieve an extended family member, and will be able to take up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a sick relative,” Sandberg writes. “We’re also introducing paid family sick time – three days to take care of a family member with a short-term illness, like a child with the flu.”

Facebook is already a leader in the amount of paid leave it offers, which is unusual for companies in the U.S. that often rank low in terms of paid parental leave. For an industry that also receives much criticism for its lack of diversity and inclusion, tech constantly blazes new trails for employee benefits with quirky additions of nap pods and kitchens stocked with food. And in the past, Amazon and Netflix have followed suit with changes to employee benefit policies.