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The firm broadens the entitlement so that both parents qualify for the more generous allowance.
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PwC bumps paid parental leave to 26 weeks
03 October 2022
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PwC Australia has updated its parental leave policy removing carer labels and extending the time parents can take off while on full pay to 26 weeks.
The policy change has removed the primary and secondary carer labels so that either parent can take full advantage of the entire parental leave entitlement.
The accounting firm said that the removal of carer labels as well as an increase in paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks was implemented after extensive consultation throughout the firm.
PwC chief executive Tom Seymour said that the firm was looking to support employees as they grow their families.
“Our people provided feedback on our parental leave policy and we’ve listened to that feedback,” he said.
“We’re making a significant investment in our people to support them in their careers as they begin or expand their families.”
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Head of people and culture at PwC Australia, Catherine Walsh, said the policy update was another step towards gender equality.
“PwC is committed to advancing gender equality and has set inclusive gender targets to reach by 2025,” said Ms Walsh. “We know gender-neutral policies such as paid parental leave for each parent are important as they provide families with real choice.
“Our updated policy removes barriers for shared care between parents.
“The increase in parental leave to 26 weeks’ paid leave also helps increase workforce participation for women, challenge gender norms and encourages non-birth parents and men to take up parental leave.”
The updated parental leave policy also allowed the 26 weeks’ leave to be spread out across the child’s first two years.
“Our people told us that the return-to-work transition is the hardest, which is why parental leave is available to take in a block and flexibly,” said Ms Walsh.
“For example, we’ve made enhancements so someone could take 20 weeks as a fixed block and use their remaining six-week entitlement upon returning as additional care days, or to enable them to return to work part-time but be paid full-time until the period of leave is exhausted.”
As part of the policy updates, PwC Australia also introduced a miscarriage leave policy of 10 days per annum for pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestation, which has also been made available for the partner of someone who experiences a miscarriage.
“Our new miscarriage leave policy supports our people beyond the minimum legislative requirement during a deeply personal and challenging time,” said Ms Walsh.
The scheme builds on the existing policy, which provides full parental leave entitlements for employees if a child is stillborn from 20 weeks’ gestation.
Mr Seymour said the policies would start on 1 October and were available to partners and full-time or part-time permanent employees.
“We strive to create a place of belonging for everyone. We know no two employees are the same and understand that for many of our people, creating the right combination of work and family life is so important,” he said.
“We’ve enhanced the flexibility of our parental leave policy to allow our people to decide how they will take the parental leave that best suits their family.
“Our goal is to support our people to thrive at every stage of their career and stage of family life so we can attract and retain the very best people.”
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