December 23, 2022
At First Central, we put our People first. Always.
We recognise our colleagues are our greatest asset, and therefore, we've actively looked at ways to enhance our suite of Inclusive Policies from the start of 2023. We understand that “Your Journey” both inside and outside of the workplace matters, so we've made these changes as a way of offering greater support to our colleagues when they experience significant life events.
Firstly, we've changed our approach to maternity and paternity leave. Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave will be renamed as Primary Parent Leave, and increased to 20 weeks full pay, while Paternity Leave will be renamed Co-Parent Leave, and increased to 4 weeks full pay which can be taken in two-week blocks.
In addition to this, we're introducing a revised Fertility Leave Policy. Recognising that 1 in 7 couples struggle with fertility, we've decided to provide paid time off up to 3 days paid leave (up to a max 3 cycles) for colleagues going through treatment, and up to 2 days for partner support or for support to a surrogate having treatment.
We're changing our approach away from just emergency dependents leave to a more inclusive approach, named “Your Time in Need”. All colleagues experiencing challenging life situations can take emergency paid leave (up to 5 days per year) subject to line manager approval. Life's challenges will be individual to each colleague and could be for situations such as emergency childcare, a care home meeting for your elderly parent, a burst pipe in your home or the court date for your divorce. In addition to this, our Compassionate Leave Policy is increasing paid leave to up to 5 days at line management discretion.
Finally, in 2023 we'll also be introducing Flexible Bank Holidays, enabling our colleagues to celebrate the holidays or days in the year that are important to them. Bank Holidays will be added to holiday entitlement and booked automatically, with colleagues able to request a change to a day that’s important to them, such as Eid or Lunar New Year.
We recognise our colleagues are our greatest asset, and therefore, we've actively looked at ways to enhance our suite of Inclusive Policies from the start of 2023. We understand that “Your Journey” both inside and outside of the workplace matters, so we've made these changes as a way of offering greater support to our colleagues when they experience significant life events.
Firstly, we've changed our approach to maternity and paternity leave. Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave will be renamed as Primary Parent Leave, and increased to 20 weeks full pay, while Paternity Leave will be renamed Co-Parent Leave, and increased to 4 weeks full pay which can be taken in two-week blocks.
In addition to this, we're introducing a revised Fertility Leave Policy. Recognising that 1 in 7 couples struggle with fertility, we've decided to provide paid time off up to 3 days paid leave (up to a max 3 cycles) for colleagues going through treatment, and up to 2 days for partner support or for support to a surrogate having treatment.
We're changing our approach away from just emergency dependents leave to a more inclusive approach, named “Your Time in Need”. All colleagues experiencing challenging life situations can take emergency paid leave (up to 5 days per year) subject to line manager approval. Life's challenges will be individual to each colleague and could be for situations such as emergency childcare, a care home meeting for your elderly parent, a burst pipe in your home or the court date for your divorce. In addition to this, our Compassionate Leave Policy is increasing paid leave to up to 5 days at line management discretion.
Finally, in 2023 we'll also be introducing Flexible Bank Holidays, enabling our colleagues to celebrate the holidays or days in the year that are important to them. Bank Holidays will be added to holiday entitlement and booked automatically, with colleagues able to request a change to a day that’s important to them, such as Eid or Lunar New Year.