Virgin Management is now offering employees who make use of the new Shared Parental Leave legislation up to 100 percent of salary over 52 weeks.
This announcement came as the next step in the campaign to revolutionise the workplace and also follows Virgin Management’s decision to give all of their employees’ unlimited leave last year.
Shared Parental Leave came into force across the UK on 5th April 2015. It is available to working parents in the first year following the birth or adoption of their child and gives parents more flexibility to share childcare responsibilities.
The offer of fully paid shared parental leave is available to all parents, including those who adopt irrespective of gender, who work for Virgin Management, the investment and brand licensing office. They will be entitled up to 100 percent of their basic salary over the 52 week period of shared leave.
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Founder, says:
“If you take care of your employees they will take care of your business. As a father and now a granddad to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes.
“I’m delighted that we can offer this support to our staff so that they can enjoy parental leave to the full as we continue to our work in changing business for good”
The pay is service related, so employees who have worked for the company for more than four years will be entitled to 100 percent paid leave, those with two years or less service will be entitles to 25 percent of their salary.
Josh Bayliss, CEO at Virgin Management, says:
“We pride ourselves on our family-friendly and home/work life policies – from parental leave and unlimited leave entitlement to flexible working. The introduction of the new Shared Parental Leave legislation was a great opportunity for us to review our existing maternity, paternity and adoption benefits, and offer something special to our people.
“This is a ground-breaking move from Virgin Management which demonstrates that the health and wellbeing of our people is at our core. Having a child is a life-changing experience and this policy means our employees have the opportunity to enjoy time with their families and have a great career.”
Amie Filcher is an editorial assistant at HRreview.
