Richard Branson, British billionaire and owner of the Virgin brand - which includes hundreds of companies, including the recording company Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic Airways - offered his employees unlimited vacation last year. Now he is coming out with another above standard benefit.
All employees, both women and men, working for Virgin in London and Geneva can now take up to a year of paid parental leave. This also applies to adoptive parents. By taking this step, Virgin surpassed leading technology companies, such as Google and Facebook, which are famous for their benefits and labelled as most desirable employers.
Shared parental leave
The law on sharing maternity leave, the Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, came into force in the United Kingdom on 1st December 2014. Both couples expecting babies or adopting children on or after 5th April 2015 are allowed to share the year-long parental leave which has so far only been given to mothers. Immediately after the birth, mothers can take maternity leave lasting two weeks. Then eligible couples can decide how to share the other 50 weeks of parental leave and up to 37 weeks of paid leave.
"We wanted to take it a step further," says Richard Branson in a statement to employees. All employees of the Virgin Management company based in London - which provides management, consultancy and investment support to the brand - can take a year of paid parental leave if they decide to use the advantages of shared parental leave. The level of reimbursements of the annual parental leave is graded depending on how long particular employees have worked for Virgin - from 25% for those who have worked in the company for less than two years up to 100% for those who have been employed for more than four years.
Virgin Disruptors
"If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your business," is how Richard Branson describes the philosophy behind everything Virgin has been doing successfully for over 40 years. Then he adds that he, himself, as a father and grandfather, knows how crucial the first year of a child's life is for both the baby and parents.
The new policy of support for new parents is part of a broader corporate strategy focused on employee health and well-being. The idea of supporting new parents originated at a public debate of employees and top management on the topic of workplace well-being. Similar debates take place in the company regularly and are called Virgin Disruptors.
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