US-based healthcare organisation Geisinger has launched a new paid parental leave benefit for its 32,000 employees, effective from 1 September 2019.
The leave initiative enables all full and part-time employees with at least six months' service, to take up to two weeks of fully paid leave upon the arrival of a new child through birth, adoption, legal guardianship or foster care.
The new benefit can be used in conjunction with other available paid leave provisions and, if both parents work at Geisinger, then they are both still able to utilise parental leave.
Geisinger has introduced paid parental leave in order to offer employees greater flexibility to balance their careers and family needs, as well as to improve the attraction and retention of talent.
As part of its overall employee benefits package, the organisation currently also invests $40 million (£32.5 million) a year in employee merit increases, tuition reimbursement and recognition programmes. The reward offering also includes adoption reimbursement, low medical premiums, reimbursements for college tuition and medical education courses.
Jaewon Ryu MD, JD (pictured), president and chief executive officer at Geisinger, said: “We recognise that in order to deliver the best care to our communities, we need an outstanding workforce of dedicated employees.
“By continuing to support our employees with benefits like paid leave, it will help us attract and retain talented individuals to our Geisinger family. Ultimately, a dedicated workforce allows us to improve our communities’ health and make care easier.
“We continuously look for ways to invest in our employees, personally and professionally. We understand that employees have commitments beyond those at Geisinger and we want to make it easier for them to participate in these important roles.
“This enhancement of our benefits package allows us to take care of our Geisinger family members in their many callings in life.”
