Nestlé Malaysia recently announced its new maternity policy for adoptive parents and primary caregivers, providing a generous leave package of up to six months. This is in line with the Company’s decision to enhance its overall parental leave benefits in Malaysia, which also include maternity and paternity leave benefits. These enhanced parental leave benefits now places Nestlé as one of the best-in-class within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry in Malaysia

In line with its commitment towards embracing diversity and inclusion, Nestlé introduced the Child Adoption Leave to provide employees who become new adoptive parents a minimum of 98 days of paid leave and the right to extend their leave for an additional 82 days of unpaid leave. Employees who become primary caregivers to newborns will also enjoy the same parental leave benefits under the Company’s newly introduced Primary Caregiver Leave. A “Primary Caregiver” is any male or female employee who has taken on primary responsibilities for the care of a child, including grandchildren.

New mothers and fathers in Nestlé are now also able to enjoy additional leave entitlements. Under Nestlé’s enhanced Parental Leave Policy, new mothers are entitled to paid and unpaid maternity leave of up to 180 days and new fathers are offered a week of Paternity Leave.

Mr Shahzad Umar, Executive Director, Group Human Resources, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad said, “We understand that being a new parent can be a very challenging experience to adapt to, which is why we explored avenues to better support all new mothers and fathers at the start of their parenthood journey. We are very proud to be at the forefront for one of the more progressive parental leave packages in the industry, which also now also covers adoptive parents and primary caregivers.”

“Diversity and inclusion are integral values to Nestlé’s and we are dedicated to cultivating an organisation culture which provides equal opportunities for all our employees. We hope that through these enhanced benefits, more parents will be encouraged to pursue their careers whilst also being able to spend more quality time with their families,” he added.

Nestlé also aims to be a gender balanced company in line with efforts to strengthen an inclusive culture. With 34 percent of Nestlé Malaysia employees constituting women, the Company also has put in place facilities and policies to create a nurturing workplace to empower women and encourage greater gender diversity. These initiatives include providing facilities such as nursing rooms in the office to encourage breastfeeding, as well as enabling new mothers to return to their same role upon return from maternity, with flexible working arrangements to suit their needs.

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