On Women’s Agenda, we receive a lot of press releases regarding new incentives employers are offering to help attract and retain new parents.
Often its about maternity and paternity leave — a couple of weeks here and there, support on offer while out of the office, and perhaps some additional training or a mentor thrown in to help in the return to work.
But yesterday, we got word of one new initiative, reported by Mumbrella, that left made us seriously impressed.
It came from Sydney based advertising agency The Works, which told Mumbrella it will from next week start paying $100 a day towards childcare fees for new parents, for the first six months that they return to work.
It aims is to be a “family first” employer, and to prevent the talent drain, especially of women leaving agencies after having children.
Now this isn’t a large corporate. The Works has around 100 staff
The Works Partner Kevin Macmillan told Mumbrella the childcare measure aims to try and make things simpler for parents to return to work. That way, “we are only going to improve as a business and they are going to be able to stay on the career path they want to stay on.” He added that the agency’s move is a “natural next step for the industry” and that he’s always concerned at seeing new parents at their computers at 7pm in the office, “when they really should be at home giving their kids a bath”.
And we especially love that he didn’t say “new mothers” in that particular comment!
Childcare costs are one of the biggest barriers for new parents returning to work — an issue that’s come up as a hot election item this election.
Well done to The Works. Let’s hope they can inspire a revolution across the industry, and elsewhere.