Some of the UK’s biggest insurance and long-term savings companies have signed up to an ABI-led sector initiative aimed at ensuring transparent, easily accessible information on parental leave and pay policies. Coinciding with the start today of National Inclusion Week, this comes as the government is consulting on proposals to balance the gender division on parental leave.
This first wave of signatories announced today are listed below. They will all ensure that details of their parental leave pay policy are clearly explained and highlighted on their public websites. Up until now there has been no uniform approach, with some firms setting out their policy as part of their careers information, while others only providing details of it for existing employees.
Yvonne Braun, ABI Diversity and Inclusion Executive Sponsor and ABI Director of Policy, Long-Term Savings and Protection, said:
“Parental pay can often be shrouded in secrecy and as an industry, we want to change this. It’s easy to find out about benefits such as pensions contributions up front, but pay for maternity, paternity and adoption leave is not usually public, and jobhunters are very reluctant to ask.
“I’m proud to see insurers and long-term savings providers step up to make this simple but important change in their approach. We believe we are the first industry to do so, underlining our ambition to be inclusive to all and an attractive sector to work in.”
Justine Roberts, Founder of Mumsnet, added: “It’s brilliant that ABI members are embracing this challenge. We’re running the Publish Parental Leave campaign because we know that prospective parents really value this information, and are understandably reluctant to ask about it at interview, so this sort of transparency is key.”
In addition to making parental leave and pay transparent, many ABI members are further supporting employees by equalising the pay offered for maternity and shared parental leave, supporting people returning from parental leave with a phased part-time return at full pay, and offering paid time off or flexible working arrangements to support those undergoing fertility treatment. The ABI expects more of its members will sign up to this transparency initiative in the coming months.
The ABI member and Platforms members agreeing to be part of the first wave of this initiative are:
Admiral
Ageas Insurance
Allianz Insurance plc
Aviva
AXA UK
Direct Line Group
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hiscox
LV=
M&GPrudential
NHBC
PensionBee,
Phoenix Group
Police Mutual Group
ReAssure
Rothesay Life
Royal London Group
RSA
Sabre Insurance Group
Sun Life Financial of Canada
Zurich Insurance UK
Insurance Edge Comment;
This long overdue because let’s be crystal clear, equality means exactly that; men, women or trans people must have identical rights in the workplace. Not only is it the right thing to do, but companies who pursue this more enlightened path are protecting themselves from future employment law claims.
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