All Singapore-based Aviva employees are now entitled with sixteen weeks of full-paid parental leave, said the insurance company in its media statement announced on Friday (Nov 24). Introducing equal paternity and maternity leave for every parent, the new policy will apply to all full-time employees regardless of their nationality, sexual orientation, or marital status. The same parental leave policy also covers both child birth and or adoption.
Under the new policy, Aviva employees welcoming a new child twice a year are entitled to sixteen weeks of parental leave each time, which can be used within a year of the arrival of each child. Currently, the company’s parental leave arrangements include Shared Parental Leave (up to 4 weeks), Childcare Leave (6 days), Extended Childcare Leave (2 days) and New Infant Care Leave (6 days unpaid).
To be eligible for this policy, employees across all levels of the company are required to have a minimum of three months of continuous service at the company. However, there is no limit on the number of new children. If both parents are employees of Aviva, each of them will receive their own entitlement to leave and pay, which they can take at the same time.
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Aviva said that the new parental leave policy is part of a group-wide initiative and will be rolled out in Singapore, UK, Ireland, France, and Canada with plans to extend the policy to other Aviva markets the next year. The policy is part of the company’s strategy to create a diverse and inclusive working culture in which barriers to career progression are removed.
Mark Wilson, Aviva plc Group Chief Executive Officer said, “I want to live in a world where the only criteria for success is someone’s talent, not their gender. Treating parents equally will help make this happen. We want Aviva to be a progressive, inclusive, welcoming place to work. It’s good for our people and it is also good business sense.”
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