This South African tech company now offers 26 weeks parental leave – and other awesome benefits
Hewlett Packard Enterprise will now offer 26 weeks of paid leave for new parents – both mothers and fathers – as well as parental transition support, retirement transition support and ‘Wellness Fridays’.
It comes after South Africa’s new parental leave laws were signed in by president Cyril Ramaphosa – taking effect from 1 January 2020.
The new legislation means that all parents – including fathers, adopting parents, and surrogates – are now entitled to 10 days paid parental leave when their children are born.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has taken several steps further. It said in a statement on Monday (6 January), that it is introducing the initiatives in recognition of the ‘importance of equal parenting and the role that workplace culture can play in supporting it’.
“HPE enhanced the Paid Parental Leave policy to allow new parents, with at least one year of HPE service, to benefit from 26 weeks of paid leave within the first 12 months after the birth or adoption of a child – an increase in paid leave of 13 weeks for mothers and 24 weeks for fathers in South Africa,” it said.
“HPE has also implemented Parental Transition Support which is a flexible work arrangement policy that offers new parents the opportunity to work part time for up to 36 months after the birth or adoption of a child.”
The group cited research which shows that parental bonding is essential for the wellbeing and future health of a child, supporting new parents is more important than ever.
“At HPE in South Africa, we want all of our employees to be reaching their full potential in their careers. That means supporting them as they grow their families as well,” said President Ntuli, managing director of HPE South Africa.
In addition to the extended paid parental leave, HPE announced further benefits and innovative career support options that will be offered to its workforce in South Africa.
This includes:
- Support for existing families: Eligibility for the extended paid paternal leave benefit is being retroactively applied to parents with children born or adopted on or after 1 May 2019.
- Parental Transition Support: New parents will be given the opportunity to work part time, for three years, following the birth or adoption of a child. It provides employees more time to bond with their new child and also helps them transition back to work.
- Retirement Transition Support: Employees approaching retirement will be given the opportunity to work part time to help adjust to the lifestyle changes of retirement while transferring their knowledge and/or serving as a mentor to other HPE employees.
- Wellness Fridays: As part of the global wellness and work/life balance initiative, employees are encouraged to leave the office three hours early one Friday each month to volunteer, focus on physical or emotional health, or spend time on personal or career development.
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