EY is to offer an enhanced shared parental leave (SPL) policy for eligible members of staff.
The professional services organisation will offer additional pay on top of the statutory entitlement for 39 weeks by offering eligible staff 6 weeks leave at full pay, followed by 33 weeks at half pay. This is equivalent to two and a half weeks more pay than previously offered.
The new shared parental leave regulations, which come into effect on 5 April, enable new parents to share 50 weeks of leave between them during their child’s first year.
New parents at EY will also be offered up to 20 days to optionally work during their leave, which the government has named Shared parental leave in touch (Split) days. Split days are in addition to the 10 keeping in touch days already available to those on maternity or adoption leave.
EY also offers career and family coaching to all parents taking and returning from parental leave and group support through the EY Parents Network.
These new measures will equalise EY’s approach to mothers, fathers, partners and adoptive parents by offering them greater flexibility and choice over how their child is cared for in the first year of their life.
Liz Bingham, managing partner for talent, UK at Ireland at EY, said: “Our approach to shared parental leave is another example of our commitment to creating a great place to work for parents.
“It empowers parents to make choices about childcare that suits their own individual circumstances.
“At the same time, it is a solid footstep to modernising the workplace, challenging outdated stereotypes and granting greater equality for fathers, adoptive parents and same sex couples.
“Creating a working environment where people have greater control over their work-life balance is a personal and commercial imperative; it results in more fulfilled people, higher-performing teams, better results for our clients and we recruit and retain the best talent.”