Richard Branson just put every other parental leave policy on the planet to shame.

Kudos to you, Richard Branson.

New fathers will get one whole year off (and will still be paid at full salary) under Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson’s plans to take over the universe new parental leave policy.

The ground-breaking leave policy applies to new parents – either by birth or adoption – irrespective of gender, The Independent reports.

Of course, there are a couple of catches…

Firstly, before you get too excited, the deal only applies so far to employees of Virgin Management, which consists of about 140 employees based in the company’s London and Geneva offices.

Related: “We don’t need more wives. We need better husbands.”

And, of those 140, only those that have been with Virgin for four years will be paid their full salary during their year off. Newer employees will be paid proportionately, beginning with a quarter-salary for less than two years’ service. Still, not a bad deal.

Branson said in a statement: “If you take care of your employees they will take care of your business.”

“As a father and now a granddad to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes.

”I’m delighted that we can offer this support to our staff so that they can enjoy parental leave to the full as we continue to our work in changing business for good.”

Sir Richard just upped the ante.

Let’s hope more companies follow his generous lead.

Check out a day in the life of the silver fox with the fancy, swishy hair:

For more articles on parental leave, try these:

Tony Abbott is about to dump his “signature” paid parental leave policy.

Was the Paid Parental Leave Scheme ever going to happen or was it just a con to get women voting for Tony Abbott?

Why paid parental leave isn’t a ‘women’s issue’.

Is this the best parental leave policy you’ve ever heard of?