Good news for expecting moms.

Vodafone (VOD) is now one of the first companies to offer maternity leave globally. The telecom company plans to provide fully paid 16-week leave for new mothers, no matter where they live. Vodafone says this policy will help save money because it is more expensive to recruit and train new employees than to keep women who might leave after giving birth.

Yahoo Columnist Rick Newman thinks Vodafone is implementing this policy for the right reasons.

“I'm glad Vodafone says they're doing this to save money, instead of what a lot of companies do, which is say, "We're just trying to save the planet and do the right thing and be the most moralistic company out there,'" he says. “Yes, it does make sense. Turnover is expensive for companies.”

Newman adds that this type of policy could signal a shift in the labor market.

“This is the kind of thing you want to see happening because it shows that employees have some leverage and companies are finally saying, ‘We can't just exploit everybody for every penny,’” he notes.

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Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task points out that Vodafone (VOD) is a major global company, and that others may follow suit in offering more benefits.

“You've heard this from other companies, The Container Store (TCS) has talked about… one good person is better than three bad people,” he says. 'Wal-Mart (WMT) is giving their employees higher wages to start, in part because turnover is so expensive for companies.'”

This signals that the job market has gotten tighter, Task notes.

“It's a sign that companies all over the world realize that you can squeeze only so much blood from a stone, and at some point you have to reward your employees and that ultimately benefits the bottom line,” he says. "I think most of us would rather have companies come to that conclusion on their own because this is what the market will bear, as opposed to some government agency telling them this is what you have to do because it's the ‘right thing."

Vodafone’s maternity policy will apply to all 30 countries in which the company operates. Vodafone’s European base has a lot to do with the benefits the company offers, Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli adds.

“I do think you have companies like Vodafone, a big player in Europe, where they have to operate based on national laws that say you have to offer certain benefits and certain kinds of leave. They basically have the experience that says ‘It's doable, we can turn a profit when we have these policies in place, so we can export them if it makes sense across the entire company, whereever we're operating,’” he says. “You do something like this just because its efficient and they've learned how to operate under these terms.”