ANZ named winner of 2018 PORSE Mum-friendly Workplace Awards

ANZ named winner of 2018 PORSE Mum-friendly Workplace Awards

28 March 2018

ANZ has been named the winner of the 2018 PORSE Mum-friendly Workplace Awards.

The bank’s support for parents returning to work, and decision to extend paid parental leave for employees, meant it came out on top in a national survey conducted by PORSE In-Home Childcare.

PORSE General Manager Kerry Henderson says the survey generated more than 500 responses and helped PORSE identify top employers for the awards.

“At PORSE, we believe that mums should be supported, celebrated and given the opportunities they need to be great employee. It is heartening to learn that 78% of mums surveyed felt supported by their workplace.

“Not surprisingly, we found the better the business is at supporting working mums, the more loyalty mums felt towards their workplace. Mums felt they wanted flexibility and employers who offered that scored highly in the survey,” Mrs Henderson says.

ANZ employees said they felt supported in their roles as both an employee and parent thanks to the option of having flexible working arrangements.

“ANZ made my transition back to work so much easier by giving me the option to work from home. This enabled me to continue to deliver on my responsibilities as well as being able to go above and beyond,” one mum wrote in the survey.

Parents said they also appreciated discounted childcare with PORSE thanks to the business-to-business partnership.

ANZ proved they understand the value of parents as workers by recently announcing to increase paid parental leave for employees from 18 to 26 weeks from 1 July 2018 – two years ahead of the Government’s legislated changes in 2020.

Primary caregivers are currently entitled to their full ANZ salary for up to 18 weeks after the birth or adoption of a child and this is increasing to 26 weeks from 1 July Employees can also take two weeks of paid family leave, usually taken before parental leave starts, increasing the entitlement to 28 weeks.

ANZ has more than 8,000 staff and around 240 take paid parental leave each year.

ANZ also gives employees on parental leave a lump-sum employer contribution to reduce the impact of unpaid leave on their KiwiSaver balances. Leave also accrues and those on parental leave can attend work for a paid-day every three months.

ANZ Human Resources Senior Manager Gina McJorrow says ANZ offer parents returning to work the option of flexible working arrangements and provide a parents’ room for mums breastfeeding or expressing.

ANZ’s parental leave policies are not gender specific and have a positive impact on both women and men, allowing for a longer period of full paid leave and therefore increased choices on whether a partner takes a portion of that.

“It is our social responsibility to not only support our staff and their families by alleviating financial stress, but also to lead the way in driving change with other employers,” Mrs McJorrow says.

Through the survey, PORSE was able to determine the top 10 mum-friendly workplaces – voted by Kiwi mums. They include the New Zealand Defence Force, Ministry of Primary Industries, BNZ, Fonterra, Resene, Statistics NZ, Ministry of Health, ACC and Inland Revenue

Mrs Henderson congratulated the businesses that made-up the 10 for leading the way by providing a mum-friendly working environment.

“We want to celebrate these places as being a large workforce of working mums ourselves we know what it’s like juggling our many roles.”

ends

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