Supporting Employees Entering Parenthood – How Employers Can Make a Difference?
A significant debate has arisen in recent years around statutory maternity pay in the UK, fuelled further by the comments of now Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch last year when she claimed it was “excessive”. While adequate financial support is critical to managing leave, organisations can also support parents during their transition to parenthood with their total reward offering.
Providing information and tools that make any of life’s transitions more manageable is crucial. Empowering employees with the knowledge to plan their leave, career, and finances enables them to take personal responsibility. Tobi Asare (@Tobiasare), author of The Blend, emphasises the idea that ‘knowledge is power’ in her book – it’s a must-read for anyone planning a family now or in the future and a useful addition to any workplace maternity pack. It offers helpful tips and considerations for blending careers, finances, and parenthood.
HR teams are continually striving to find the perfect mix of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to create a compelling employee value proposition. Embedding your approach to parenthood with other initiatives can help position you as an inclusive employer and strengthen your brand without requiring endless budgets.
What can you do?
● Transparent recruitment and leave policies: Enable families to make informed choices that work for them.
● Support for expectant and new parents: Underpin support with career and financial wellness education.
● Flexibility for returners: Offer flexible working arrangements for employees returning from leave.
● Create an open culture: Remove the taboo around fertility and parental productivity.
● Promote leadership role models: Encourage leaders to model supportive behaviours.
● Partner with external organisations: Collaborate with organisations or social enterprises that provide advice to employees.
● Inclusive healthcare benefits: Ensure healthcare benefits are understood and accessible, for example EAPs, cash plans, fertility support.
● Diverse initiatives: Complement family policies with initiatives that represent all employees and their life stages/choices.
Unsure where to start? We can help you conduct a strategic review of your current offerings and recommend cost-effective solutions. We can also signpost you to organisations that can help.p.
