Some good news for workers at Bank of Ireland this week, as the lender unveiled a slew of new family policies and supports for staff. The measures include a seven week top up of parental leave in the first two years of a child’s life as well as 13 weeks paid leave for partners. On top of that, the firm has brought in 33 weeks of paid leave for parents using maternity, surrogacy or adoptive leave, as well as provision of foster care leave as well leave in the event of miscarriage.
Led by chief executive Myles O’Grady, Bank of Ireland is hardly the first company in Ireland to offer such measures. They are welcome nonetheless. Despite extensive progress in recent years, strong parental leave above and beyond what is mandated by law is not always common in Ireland. In many workplaces, there is still an unspoken expectation that new parents will not take all the leave available to them.
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Policies around surrogacy and foster care in particular have not been widely catered for in corporate Ireland, and the perception of a male chief executive and his top team who are hardly aware of such issues continues to linger, regardless of whether it is true or not in modern Irish business.
For Bank of Ireland, the advantages of such policies, and trumpeting them to the world, are obvious. Regardless of the ongoing wave of tech job losses, the unemployment rate is bumping along near a two-decade low at about 4.4 per cent. Bank of Ireland may have been freed of pay caps and an outright ban on bonuses, but with so-called discretionary compensation effectively capped at €20,000 it is very much in its interests to highlight what it can offer current staff and prospective employees beyond cash.
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In fairness to the bank, family-related benefits are not a completely new thing for it. Last year it introduced a domestic abuse leave policy as well as training to help staff recognise its symptoms — again, a welcome move.
Especially in the post-pandemic world, it is clear that family-friendly firms will have access to a wider pool of talent. Other companies would be wise to follow.
