Vodafone is increasing the amount of time off given to expecting and women and those who have recently given birth to at least 16 weeks, the BBC reports. 

The plan will go in effect by the end of 2015 at all Vodafone locations in the world including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.

The new plan is designed to attract and retain women workers at the company.

When women return to work, they will be allowed to work 30-hour shifts at full pay for the first six months.

The new plan will offer women in Africa, India and the United States the most benefit because the minimum amount of paid leave time legally required is so low in those countries.

Vodafone calls the new policy "pioneering" because few companies are offering policies like this.

Vodafone hopes that with the new policy it will not only attract more women to the company but hope it will also cut the costs it incurs when women have to leave to take care of children.

"There are a lot of hidden costs when you lose women to maternity: retraining, recruiting, business disruption," said Sharon Doherty, the group's Organization and People Development Director, who developed the policy. 

"You have to look at the total picture, not just obvious upfront costs."

According to IFC/World Bank, the minimum number of paid days of maternity leave in the United States is 0, in India 84 and in South Africa 120.

Vodafone estimates that about 1,000 women will be positively impacted by the new policy.

With around 100,000 employees worldwide, 35 percent of Vodafone's workers are women. 

"We'd like that to be a higher number which is why we are looking at progressive policies like this one," added Doherty.

Vodafone's new policy of giving women less hours when they return to work from maternity leave is based on company practices in Italy. Doherty said that the Italian government "almost forces employers to do this sort of thing."

When Vodafone looked at the results in Italy, they found that more women were staying with the company and they decided to roll out these policies worldwide.

Joe Wiggins of Glassdoor, a website that allows employees to review companies they work for, told BBC News that Vodafone's new policies are good for workers who are often fearful of asking about maternity leave benefits.

"Vodafone being upfront about this will give people peace of mind. It's rare for companies to talk about maternity benefits in an open way," he said.