Professional services firm Deloitte, which has more than 16,000 employees, has doubled its paid parental leave benefit for non-birth parents, offering four weeks of fully paid leave.
The enhanced parental leave benefit, effective from 1 October 2019, enables any father, same-sex spouse or partner, civil partner or adoptive parent with at least 26 weeks of continuous service to take up to four weeks of paid leave. This can be taken in two blocks; one within the first 56 days of the baby’s birth, and the second at any time within the child’s first year.
Previously, Deloitte offered two weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth parents, also known as paternity leave.
The organisation has enhanced its leave for non-birth parents in order to reinforce its culture of supporting working parents.
Deloitte has already improved the pay for shared parental leave in alignment with this goal; since the benefit was introduced in 2015, 200 employees have taken shared parental leave.
Dimple Agarwal (pictured), managing partner for people and purpose, said: “We’ve listened to feedback and understand that an increasing number of non-birthing parents want the opportunity to be able to play a more active parenting role, both in those first weeks and longer term. However, take-up numbers for this leave is disappointingly low and we are very keen to change this.
“This promise to our Deloitte families is all part of our commitment to inclusion, where we are creating an environment of respect, dignity and belonging for all. What’s more, we’ve increased flexibility as to when and how this leave can be taken as we recognise that when it comes to family commitments, one size doesn’t fit all.”
