Australia: Boost for paid parental leave

Norwich Union today announced that it will boost its paid maternity leave entitlements from six to eight weeks payment of full salary and introduce one week of paid paternity leave.

In a move that has been welcomed by Norwich Union staff, today’s announcement puts Norwich ahead of industry norms which see an average of six weeks paid maternity leave for new mums.

Speaking about the boost to the company’s paid parental leave scheme, Norwich Union Australia CEO Mr Rob Garnsworthy said: “We are pleased to be able to offer a full eight weeks paid maternity leave scheme for our employees. In developing this package we have considered the importance to our staff of balancing their working lives with family responsibilities. Importantly we value highly the retention of our female employees – the move to increased paid parental leave is about recognising the need to support working mothers in their return to the workforce.”

Norwich Union’s move to eight weeks paid maternity leave is supported by a well-rounded parental leave policy which also entitles fathers to one week paid paternity leave at the time of the birth of a child and up to 51 weeks unpaid leave.

“The birth of a child is a family event – fathers also need to be supported at this most important time,” Mr Garnsworthy said.

Paid parental leave is available to both full and part-time staff who have completed at least two years continuous service – part-time employees will receive parental leave payments on a pro-rata basis.

Seven out of 10 women of child-bearing age participate in the paid workforce in Australia¹ yet only 62% of Australian working women have access to a paid maternity leave scheme².

Australia and the USA are the only OECD countries with no nationally-funded paid maternity leave system, creating the need for Australian businesses to develop fully-funded parental schemes for their staff.

¹ WEL Australia Submission to HREOC re. Valuing parenthood 2002, p.2.
² Working lives and families: paid maternity leave, a contribution to getting the balance right. Professional Update, Vol. 12, No. 5 2002, p.1

For further information, please contact:

Simon Morgan
Group General Manager Public Affairs
(03) 9829 8892
0407 966 632

Note to editors:

• Norwich Union Australia is a group of two specialist financial services companies; Navigator and Norwich Union Life. Portfolio Partners, the funds management arm, is aligned with Morley Funds UK. Through these companies we provide products and services in the areas of wealth creation, wealth management and wealth protection for more than 300,000 customers throughout Australia.
• Globally, Norwich Union Australia is part of Aviva plc, the world’s seventh largest insurance group, the largest insurer in the UK and one of the top five life companies in Europe. Aviva was formed in May 2000 through the global merger of CGU plc and Norwich Union plc.
• Aviva’s principal business activities are long-term savings, funds management and general insurance. It has a market capitalisation of approximately A$34.4 billion at 13/01/03, worldwide premium and investment sales of more than A$76.6 billion from ongoing business and more than A$556 billion in assets under management. The group has 64,000 employees and more than 25 million customers.