Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has increased its paid parental leave for any of its 52,000 employees who suffer from a stillbirth.
The bank is increasing the parental leave for primary carers to 12 weeks of paid leave, while secondary carers will have access to four.
This is in addition to the flexible parental leave policy that CBA currently offers, giving working parents greater financial flexibility to utilise their paid and unpaid leave options that best suits their commitments outside of work.
The bank has also created a New Parents Wellbeing Guide, designed to help working parents work through their challenges ahead.
Sian Lewis, group executive of HR at CBA, said: “Tragically, around six babies are stillborn in Australia every day. As one of Australia’s largest employers, our people have been, and will sadly continue to be impacted by this heartbreaking event.
“A stillbirth can be an extremely traumatic event for working parents and may require additional time away from work to help them grieve and to begin the healing process.
“We hope that increasing this type of leave will remove some pressure during an already traumatic period so parents can concentrate on what matters most and get the support they need.”
