Molson Coors Brewing Company has launched a new leave benefit for the more than 2,000 employees based in the UK and Ireland, providing an additional two weeks of paid leave for the purpose of aiding wellbeing.
The benefit, named 'life leave', was introduced in July 2019. The policy has been designed to empower staff to improve their work-life balance and overall wellbeing as part of the organisation’s wider Moments that Matter programme, which strives to create an industry-leading approach to work-life balance.
The new policy enables employees to take up to two weeks of paid leave for significant personal situations, such as settling in a new pet, moving house, studying for exams or making the final preparations for a wedding.
Adam Firby, HR director, UK and Ireland at Molson Coors Brewing Company, said: “We’re really proud of the team culture we’ve created. Many of our employees already work on a flexible basis, but we wanted to take this one step further. Launching life leave allows people to use their holiday as it’s meant to be, [as] a break, [while] knowing they’ve got the breathing space to tap into extra leave for the planned or unplanned life moments.
“One of our driving principles is to empower our people to come to work as themselves, without feeling pressure to fit a corporate mould or to always keep their personal life away from work. This mindset puts us in a really good place to embed this scheme and with our Moments that Matter programme, we hope we can continue to nurture and attract the best talent in the industry.”
The paid life leave initiative is being offered in addition to employees’ existing 31-day annual holiday entitlement, plus five bank holidays and three Christmas bank holidays, and is separate from other leave policies, such as sickness absence or compassionate leave. Line managers will action individual requests on a case-by-case basis.
The new benefit was communicated to staff using an information pack and face-to-face team briefings.
Phil Whitehead, managing director, UK and Ireland at Molson Coors Brewing Company, added: “The way we all work has changed. For our people to perform at their best we recognise they need an employer that provides flexibility and understands their personal priorities.
“There are often things going on in our lives which we would normally use annual leave to sort out, but this eats into actual downtime. We wanted to change that and give our people the ability to take care of what matters in their life without running down holiday days.”
