HSBC is to guarantee the option of a part-time role at current title and salary grade to all staff returning from maternity or paternity leave.
Jobs equivalent to at least two-and-a-half days per week on a pro-rata salary and same level as their original role will be offered to returning parents, in a bid to help employees “balance the demands of family life with their career development”.
While every new parent is entitled to request part-time or flexible working there is no legal obligation for UK employers to provide it.
The bank said that the move – believed to be the first by a large corporate – recognised the difficulties faced by staff trying to juggle work and home life commitments.
Sue Jex, head of employee relations at HSBC, said: “As a business we see about 1,100 staff each year taking parental leave following childbirth and of this number, 87 per cent want to return to work.
“By guaranteeing our returning parents part-time roles, we are supporting our staff by offering more flexible working patterns in order to help balance the need for child care while maintaining household income.”
Jex added that parenthood was sometimes cited as a reason for the under-representation of women at board level, but that HSBC was committed to bringing women into senior positions.
“We hope that by guaranteeing part-time roles we can encourage those women who want to continue their careers and allow them to reach the levels to which they aspire,” she explained.
Staff seeking an extended period of leave will also be offered a one-year unpaid sabbatical and a ‘priority returner scheme’ if they rejoin HSBC within five years.
The bank already operates a job sharing option and working parents’ network, and offers 14 weeks’ maternity leave at full pay as well as 12 days per year leave for fertility treatment.
HSBC’s announcement comes ahead of this April’s change to the working tax credit, which will obligate all couples to increase their working hours from 16 to 24 – with one parent working at least 16 hours – in order to qualify.
The Working Families charity called on the government to reverse its forthcoming amendment, warning that businesses could not offer the additional hours required.
Only 17 per cent of employers surveyed by the work-life organisation said that they would be able to accommodate a staff request for an extra eight hours’ work per week.
Working Families chief executive Sarah Jackson said that many families would lose their working tax credit and “parents will find that it is no longer worth staying in work.”
Jobs equivalent to at least two-and-a-half days per week on a pro-rata salary and same level as their original role will be offered to returning parents, in a bid to help employees “balance the demands of family life with their career development”.
While every new parent is entitled to request part-time or flexible working there is no legal obligation for UK employers to provide it.
The bank said that the move – believed to be the first by a large corporate – recognised the difficulties faced by staff trying to juggle work and home life commitments.
Sue Jex, head of employee relations at HSBC, said: “As a business we see about 1,100 staff each year taking parental leave following childbirth and of this number, 87 per cent want to return to work.
“By guaranteeing our returning parents part-time roles, we are supporting our staff by offering more flexible working patterns in order to help balance the need for child care while maintaining household income.”
Jex added that parenthood was sometimes cited as a reason for the under-representation of women at board level, but that HSBC was committed to bringing women into senior positions.
“We hope that by guaranteeing part-time roles we can encourage those women who want to continue their careers and allow them to reach the levels to which they aspire,” she explained.
Staff seeking an extended period of leave will also be offered a one-year unpaid sabbatical and a ‘priority returner scheme’ if they rejoin HSBC within five years.
The bank already operates a job sharing option and working parents’ network, and offers 14 weeks’ maternity leave at full pay as well as 12 days per year leave for fertility treatment.
HSBC’s announcement comes ahead of this April’s change to the working tax credit, which will obligate all couples to increase their working hours from 16 to 24 – with one parent working at least 16 hours – in order to qualify.
The Working Families charity called on the government to reverse its forthcoming amendment, warning that businesses could not offer the additional hours required.
Only 17 per cent of employers surveyed by the work-life organisation said that they would be able to accommodate a staff request for an extra eight hours’ work per week.
Working Families chief executive Sarah Jackson said that many families would lose their working tax credit and “parents will find that it is no longer worth staying in work.”
Source: People Management
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