WASHINGTON — The global telecommunications company Vodafone is beginning an unusual policy for mothers who choose to work.

It announced that by the end of the year, it will offer at least 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.

After new mothers return to work, they only have to work 30 hours per week to get their full-time salaries.

The company says the benefit will help women transition back to their jobs without derailing their career. Vodafone says talent retention was one of its goals when it designed the new policy, The Washington Post reports. In the past, 65 percent of women who left the company after maternity leave did so within the first year.