Bank Gives Workers 'Grandparent Leave'

Young and old have been granted extra leave to assist family members at one of Australia’s customer owned banks.

Expectant grandparents can take two days annually to be there during the birth of a grandchild, while younger workers can take the same amount of time to assist a grandparent deal with the pressure of old age.

‘Grandparents leave’ and ‘eldercare leave’ have been introduced to staff at Heritage Bank to help them support their families.

Chief executive John Minz said the bank introduced the new leave entitlements after reviewing the range of benefits it currently offered.

“The grandparents leave provision recognises that people today want to be there to support their children when a grandchild is being born,” he said.

“We value our staff and we want to offer them the flexibility to be able to access leave to help out their families during what is an extremely important moment in their lives.”

Minz said that ‘eldercare leave’ could include assisting parents to transition into retirement or into a nursing home or aged care facility or to accompany parents to appointments with solicitors/accountants to prepare a power of attorney or will.

“Everyone is living longer and that means many staff members do find themselves needing time to assist their parents as they cope with the changes that old age brings,” Minz said.

“We all owe our parents so much. It’s the least we can do as a company to allow our staff members the chance to support their parents and help repay them in a small way for everything they have done.”

If staff do not fall into either of these categories, a third level of leave is available to be able to chase their dream without having to resign from work with the ‘career break leave’ option.

Staff members are able to take up to six months unpaid leave to complete study, to travel, to trial retirement or possibly to care for a family member who is ill, and then return to work after that.

“People today often want to take a break from their jobs for a short while to complete something that is important to them,” Minz said.

"It might be caring for a sick family member, or it might be a challenge such a climbing Mt Everest or doing charity work overseas.

“This new leave provision enables them to do that without having to give up a career they value so much.”