Supporting families when they need it

Platform55 is a membership platform providing both employees and managers with a range of training and resources required to navigate the day-to-day reality of family policy. Co-founder Michelle O’Keeffe says the difference between regulation and implementation of family-friendly policies within companies can be vast. Indeed, differences between experiences within a single company can be stark.

“Often managers do not have lived experience of different aspects of family life from pre-family to full-on family,” says O’Keeffe. “In that case it needs to be taught or workshopped. It’s not enough to point to a new piece of legislation and ask it to be enshrined in company policy. And sometimes, fear and doubt will lead to total ignoring of said legislation.

“And while topics such as maternity and paternity are pretty much standard over the past number of years, emerging legislation for family supports such as fertility, IVF and miscarriage are tough topics to discuss even for those affected by these issues.”

O’Keeffe has encountered several organisations who feel somewhat overwhelmed when they hear of other companies launching policies on fertility, domestic abuse and surrogacy.

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“They don’t even know where to begin and that’s where we help kickstart the conversation,” says O’Keefe. “For example, around the fertility journey it’s important for the employee to know if they can take time off for medical appointments. It’s not an easy conversation to have with a manager but a clear policy can make a big difference and these steps do not have to cost the company money.”

Irish pillar bank AIB became the first bank and the largest employer in Ireland to be awarded the ‘Investors in Diversity’ Gold accreditation by the Irish Centre for Diversity – a testament to its commitment to inclusion and diversity.

The bank prides itself on being ahead of the curve and is actively introducing policies even ahead of official legislation. For example, AIB provides fully-paid maternity leave for 26 weeks, plus an additional 16 weeks unpaid leave. Under its adoptive leave offering, it provides fully-paid adoptive leave for 24 weeks and an additional 16 week unpaid leave.

But earlier this month, it introduced a new Surrogacy Leave offering, which fully mirrors its existing maternity leave offering and provides essential time to colleagues with their new child.

Ciara Ryan, AIB head of Group Accountability & Performance, says: “While there is currently no specific legislation for surrogacy in Ireland, we are committed to backing our employees who wish to grow their family in this way.

“In addition, all parents in AIB can also avail of seven weeks fully-paid parent’s leave before their child turns two, or in the case of adoption, within two years of the placement of the child with the family,” she says.

Parent’s leave provides an entitlement for each parent to take leave, supported by a parent’s benefit payment from the Department of Social Protection. AIB is keen to support its employees and has consistently topped-up parent’s benefit to full pay for its employees since its introduction in 2019 – this is not mandatory under law but demonstrates the bank’s commitment.

O’Keeffe knows it is hard to bridge the gap between policy and implementation. A recent study by Platform55 showed the difference between policy and lived experience. The research pulled up some difficult reading:

● 80 per cent of managers said they are not equipped to talk about family policy issues

● 70 per cent said their return from leave was not a positive experience

● 56 per cent of employees say there’s no proactive support for parents trying to balance work and home

● 80 per cent of women consider not returning to their workplace after maternity leave

● 1 in 3 dads are considering moving organisations to get a better work-life balance.

In her company’s journey to gather information and to create powerful learning points, O’Keeffe is constantly ratifying research.

“One HR director in a legal firm explained that when they offer a role to a candidate, the most common questions are around what family policies are available,” says O’Keefe. “Historically we would never have asked this in fear of the employers guessing our family planning motives and fear of becoming an unattractive candidate. Now candidates want to fully understand what support is available to them around family policy before accepting a role.

“Companies openly promoting their policies by means of demonstrating the family supports available has a positive impact on their overall brand.”

Ensuring the policy becomes part of the culture is key to Ryan’s focus at AIB: “We want to ensure that we are proactively creating an inclusive and diverse culture that keeps the wellbeing of our people to the forefront, helping our people to thrive personally and professionally.

“A critical component of this is supporting our people with progressive family leave policies to ensure that our working parents have the support they need as they grow their families. Our aim is to cultivate a respectful culture that fosters inclusion, celebrates difference and supports our people in achieving a sustainable work-life balance while navigating various life stages, including parenthood.”

With regard to the latter, AIB employees undergoing fertility treatment now have access to up to ten days paid fertility leave per year. Additionally, AIB staff whose partners are undergoing treatment can take up to two days fertility leave each year. On top of the emotional and physical demands of fertility treatment, the high financial cost can very often be an additional concern for many people. To help alleviate this burden, AIB has partnered with a leading Irish fertility clinic to offer staff a 20% discount.

“Pregnancy loss is, unfortunately, an exceptionally emotional reality for many colleagues, requiring sensitivity and flexibility,” adds Ryan. “We recently extended our ten days compassionate leave offering for pregnancy loss to cover any stage of pregnancy. This leave is available to all AIB employees regardless of whether pregnancy loss occurs to them personally, their partner or their surrogate.

“The introduction of these enhancements ensures that we provide tangible support to our people at the times when they need it most,” says Ryan.