Leading The Charge. An Industry First Parental Leave Policy makes Beaumont History
At our Annual Company Conference, Beaumont People history was made when Nikki Beaumont and Nina Mapson Bone unveiled to their employees an industry-first Parental Leave Policy.
The amount of employer-funded paid parental leave varies between employers. Based on the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s*, the average length of paid primary carer’s leave offered is 10.1 weeks and for paid secondary carer’s leave it is 7.3 days.
Worst still, a straw poll of both recruitment agencies and non-recruitment organisations in the country, revealed that where an employer-funded policy existed, average paid leave offered to the primary carer was 4 weeks and 2 weeks for secondary carers.
We wanted to do better.
In fact, we believe that our people deserve better.
That is why, in line with the WGEA guidelines for delivering a leading parental leave policy, Beaumont People now offer up to 16 weeks paid leave with no repayment clauses, to all employees including residents and those under sponsorship visas.
But wait, the ‘WOW’ doesn’t end there.
As well-known advocates for developing thriving business cultures, diversity, inclusion and gender equality, our research revealed that in 2017 some 64% of couple families with children had both parents working, while a decade ago the proportion was 59%.
Yet, despite this significant 8% growth, women are still far more likely to identify as the ‘primary carer’ of a child, with organisation parental policies equally reflecting this stereotype.
The evidence was clear and rife throughout our own industry analysis.
Again, we wanted to do better.
That is why, all benefits are available to both primary and secondary careers equally. Mother or Father, primary or secondary career, Beaumont People employees will all have access to up to 16 weeks paid leave.
“This policy has been a long time coming as we look for more ways to support our employees and lead with a people focus,” explained Nina Mapson Bone, Managing Director.“
With many employees combining work with caring responsibilities, providing a modern parental leave policy is critical to employee attraction and retention, but more so supporting employees to balance their career with family transitions and also achieving gender equality.”
At Beaumont People, we believe that a key driver for achieving gender equality is changing attitudes about the distribution of work at home and in the workplace.
We wanted our parental policy to reflect this. That is why we put a significant amount of effort to research and design what we believe to be, is a leading modern-day parental policy; and we invite other recruiters and businesses to join us.
Interested in work opportunities with us? See our current roles here.*(WGEA) 2016-17 dataset