Information technology business Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has introduced a new paid parental leave policy and work-life balance benefits for its 60,000 global employees.
The parental leave policy, implemented as part of a new work-life balance and family-friendly benefits strategy, will enable new parents to take up to six months of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child after 30 April 2019.
Alan May, chief people officer at HPE, said: “Our culture at HPE is one that values employees’ lives inside and outside of the office. Offering benefits that promote wellbeing for the whole person, like giving mums and dads the opportunity to be at home with their new child for a longer period of time, provides the security and balance needed for our people to be able to build long-term careers with us.”
In addition to the parental leave provision, HPE launched wellness Fridays, encouraging employees to leave the office three hours early on a designated Friday each month. This aims to help staff focus on their physical or emotional health, or spend time on their personal and career development. Employees will still be paid for the three hours they are out of the office.
HPE has additionally implemented parental and retirement transition support schemes. The parental transition support programme will enable new parents to work part-time for up to 36 months following the birth or adoption of their child, while the retirement transition support initiative will allow staff within one year of retirement to also work part-time, to help ease their transition out of the workforce.
The organisation has further introduced a career reboot programme; this provides job opportunities at HPE to individuals, such as stay-at-home parents, who have been out of the workforce for an extended period of time and are ready to re-enter the workforce.
The new programmes and benefits were communicated to employees in April 2019 by HPE’s chief executive officer, in conjunction with the opening of the organisation’s new headquarters in San Jose, California.
Antonio Neri, chief executive officer at HPE, said: “Innovation is our top priority at HPE and that is made possible by the culture we build. We will retain and attract the best talent because of who we are, how we work and how we treat our people, which in turn will help our customers and partners thrive.”
