New CEO Andrew Yates marked his first day in the job announcing a raft of new workplace and structure initiatives, including the introduction of 26 weeks flexible parental leave for both parents, with no “primary” or “secondary” carer status and regardless of how long a staff member has been with the firm.
The leave can be taken flexibly to suit each parent within the first 24 months of the child’s arrival. The parental leave policy continues to apply to all parents regardless of gender and is inclusive of adoption, surrogacies and foster care children. In addition, compassionate leave has been extended to include those who experience pregnancy loss and miscarriage.
Andrew Yates said the initial package of initiatives signaled some of his key leadership priorities as CEO.
“Work-life balance is increasingly hard to achieve in the fast-paced and demanding space we occupy. I know that having the time and opportunity to care for our families, friends and communities is a constant challenge.
“In March, KPMG became a founding sponsor of the Family Friendly Workplace standards set by Parents at Work and UNICEF, and the enhanced parental and cultural leave programs announced today are an important step towards meeting those standards and setting a challenge for other large employers to follow.
“KPMG will now have amongst the most generous schemes of any large employer in Australia. Our policy is gender-neutral and does not distinguish between primary and secondary carers.”
Other leave measures introduced include:
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Introducing a cultural leave program to allow team members to take Floating Public Holidays so that they can flexibly utilise the existing Australian public holidays in their state or territory to celebrate cultural or religious days more relevant to their beliefs and traditions. As an example, instead of celebrating the Queen’s Birthday holiday, people may wish to work on that day and instead take a Floating Public Holiday on a day of significant celebration for them.
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Introducing Indigenous Cultural and Ceremonial leave, with an additional day of paid leave every year for all KPMG Indigenous employees to participate in a significant cultural, ceremonial or community date or event.
Read Women on Boards position on Paid Parental Leave HERE