The benefits launched include seven weeks top-up of shared parental leave in first year and 13 weeks’ paid leave for partners, when coupled with paternity leave enhancements adopted in 2022.
There is also a new provision for foster care leave, 10 days’ leave for colleagues undergoing fertility treatments and surrogacy leave.
The firm will also offer early pregnancy leave for the loss of a baby under 24 weeks’ gestation, which is available to all colleagues, and extended breastfeeding breaks for parents with a child up to two years of age.
Investing in colleagues
George Higginson (pictured right), director for Northern Ireland, partnerships and mortgage and Bank of Ireland UK, said: “At Bank of Ireland Group, our ambition is to be one of the best places to work, and it’s important that we invest in our colleague supports as we seek to retain and attract the talent we need to serve our customers, support growing businesses and grow as a company.
“We do this in a range of ways, including career development, flexible working and progressive people policies to develop a progressive culture that creates a more supportive and inclusive environment for colleagues across difference life stages.”
He continued that there was “no one-size fits all for families” and had worked with colleagues to understand what matters most to them and how to best support them across several scenarios such fertility challenges and pregnancy loss.
“Through the introduction of specific policies in these areas, we are also seeking to promote a compassionate working environment where people feel comfortable in bringing their whole selves to work,” Higginson said.
He added that the Family Matters policies complemented existing initiatives brought out last year, which included menopause leave, improved paternity leave and a domestic abuse policy.
Higginson said that one of the “key challenges” was identifying the areas where it could “make the most difference for colleagues and their families”.
“To overcome this, we worked directly with colleagues to understand what matters most to them and how we could best support them, recognising that there is no one-size fits all for families,” he noted.
“It was also important to us that we challenged ourselves to be fair and flexible for all types of family leave, from surrogacy and foster leave through to support for fertility treatments, and to help start compassionate conversations across our business, especially for less ‘traditional’ family leave needs.”
Higginson said that the policies had been “very warmly welcomed by colleagues right across our business who see them as another great reason to work at Bank of Ireland”.
Day-one entitlements
As well as the new policies the bank has created a handbook for colleagues to illustrate all the supports and benefits available.
“A key element of the new Family Matters policies are that they are “day-one” entitlements, meaning they are available to colleagues from the day they join us, making it even more attractive to come and work with us,” he added.
Higginson said that the post-pandemic world offered organisations access to a “wider pool of talent than ever before” and in order to train and attract talent then they have to “look beyond just remuneration and provide supports that improve colleague’s personal as well as financial wellbeing”.
“We’re proud to lead the way with our family-friendly policies and to encourage wider discussion on key societal issues,” he added.
