Nursing homes and residential care facilities organisation Elizabeth Finn Homes has implemented an enhanced family leave policy for its more than 750 employees.
With the support of its charity owners Turn2us, the parental leave policy sets out both basic and enhanced entitlements for new and expectant birth parents at work. It also covers birth parent leave, shared parental leave, adoption leave, co-parent leave, parental leave and parental bereavement leave.
The aim of the policy is to provide all employees who become parents with the time to bond with, support, and raise their child during the first year of their life, or the first year of becoming a parent to a child.
This is part of the care home group’s strategic objectives to provide inclusive careers in care, become an employer of choice and to support staff as they become parents.
Dr Olivia Curno, chief executive of Elizabeth Finn Homes, said: “I am utterly delighted to announce the launch of our new and greatly enhanced family leave policy. We believe we have developed one of the most progressive, generous and family-centred approaches in the care sector. We continuously strive to be a caring, supportive employer and by offering these enhanced benefits, we set an example we hope other providers will follow.
“The margins in care are incredibly tight. It’s a chronically underfunded sector trying to meet ever mounting needs and costs but short-changing new parents is a false economy. Comparing care sector spending on agency staff and recruitment, excellent family policies might be just the investment we should be making to keep social care workers, 81% of whom are women, healthy, happy and retained by our sector.”
Other benefits that Elizabeth Finn Homes offers include an employer-funded Blue Light Card subscription, an employee assistance programme, occupational sick pay after probation, long-service awards, a bikes-for-work scheme, free on-site parking and subsidised meals during shifts.
