Amazon, following the lead of many other technology companies, announced Monday it will begin offering paid paternal leave to new fathers beginning in 2016, and expanded the available leave to expectant and new mothers as well, according to an article on washingtonpost.com.

The retail giant now offers to birth mothers as many as 20 weeks of paid leave, which includes four weeks of pre-partum medical leave, 10 weeks of maternity leave, and six weeks of parental leave, all paid by the company.  The firm also announced new fathers would be offered six weeks of parental leave if they have been with the company for a year or more.

The benefit is being made available to full-time hourly and salaried employees and includes those working in the fulfillment centers and in customer service.

Currently, Amazon offers eight weeks of paid maternity leave, and does not offer any type of paid leave to other parents.  Amazon is following suit of many other technology companies that have expanded their maternity leave offerings, including Netflix and  Microsoft.  Companies like Facebook and Google have had extended leave policies in place for some time.

Amazon also announced a plan that is unusual among paid benefits, called “Leave Share.”  This program will allow an employee to share all or part of the six-week parental leave with a spouse or partner that works for a different company and does not have available parental leave.  The employee can come back to work after the birth of a child, and allow the partner to stay home with the infant, and the remaining parental leave time would be compensated in the employee’s next paycheck, as long as the partner can verify they do not receive any parental benefits.

Another new feature, called “Ramp Back,” will allow employees who are birth mothers or primary caregivers to ease their way back into working a full-time schedule.  This program will allow them to work a reduced schedule for up to eight weeks and they transition from home and full-time care giving, and return to work gradually.

Amazon is recognizing that paid family leave is a hot topic among younger employees and the company is making the changes to try to hire and retain the brightest of the younger prospects.  Experts say that companies are ramping up their benefit packages to stand out as a caring employer, while also giving themselves the flexibility to change or revise the packages, which is much easier than revising the employees’ base pay.