Global technology company Wise has announced new leave policies for all of its 3,000 employees across the world as of January 2022.
According to the business, it has decided to apply its minimum holiday, parental leave and general leave policies in order to create a fairer global standard, where members of staff have the flexibility and space to do their best work regardless of where they are in the world.
All workers who have been at the organisation for more than one year will have access to 18 fully paid weeks of parental leave for birth or adoption, which applies regardless of the parent’s gender. A total of 10 days leave on full pay will be available for any employees affected by pregnancy loss, which is applicable whether it happens to them, their partner or their baby’s surrogate mother.
In addition, staff will have 33 days annual leave per year including local public holidays, three ‘me’ days per year to help them manage their life and six weeks of paid sabbatical leave available every four years of service. Those located in the UK and Australia will receive an extra five days of fully paid sick leave.
This will be applied in every location, even if it is more than local market practice. The new minimums will only be applied if they are an improvement on what is already in place.
Kristo Kaarmann, co-founder and CEO of Wise, commented that by applying a global leave minimum to everyone, the business is setting the standard of balancing work and personal time.
Hayley Bucur, senior people leader at Wise, added: “Time and again we see people wanting real workplace benefits that truly enhance their work life balance. It’s not about office gimmicks any more, but creating a genuinely better place to work. We hope that standardising our global minimums will create a better, and fairer, balance for our Wisers regardless of where they are,” she said.