Investment banking organisation Morgan Stanley has introduced a near-site workplace nursery benefit for 5,000 employees based at Canary Wharf, London and 1,000 staff in Glasgow.
The new family-friendly benefit, provided by Bright Horizons, was launched in August 2018 as part of a broader wellness strategy that aims to support Morgan Stanley’s 56,000 global employees and their families, both in and out of the workplace. This includes helping to support working parents when they return after having a child.
The new benefit enables parents to apply for nursery places at childcare facilities at Canada Square and Columbus Courtyard in London, near to Morgan Stanley’s Canary Wharf office, and at Spectrum Early Learning and Childcare in Glasgow, located close to its operating site there.
Available for all Morgan Stanley employees via the firm’s salary sacrifice scheme, the workplace nursery benefit is for children aged between three months and five years. The nurseries are typically open between 7.30am and 6.30pm each working day.
Parents are able to visit their child at any point during the day to take them out for a walk or spend time with them in dedicated breastfeeding rooms and soft play zones. The near-site workplace nurseries have facilities such as indoor playgrounds and climbing frames and toddler-sized cookery stations. Meals and snacks are cooked on-site, with menus checked by external nutritionists to ensure they fulfil the Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines set in England and Scotland.
The workplace nurseries benefit was launched to employees using an email campaign. This included communications that reminded staff about the firm’s existing family-friendly benefits.
Tamsin Rowe, head of human resources, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Morgan Stanley, said: “Morgan Stanley is a leading advocate for family-friendly workplaces and is strongly committed to supporting working parents through a variety of programmes. We are delighted to offer another resource to enable our employees to better balance work and family.”