QBE evens up maternity and paternity leave

Insurer QBE has today (23 January 2023) equalised its family leave policies for new parents.

The insurer’s UK employees can now receive 26 weeks at normal basic salary for both maternity and paternity leave, as well as take up to 52 weeks’ parental leave.

Emma Higgins, chief people officer at QBE Europe, said: “It’s been shown that offering extended paternity leave has wide-reaching benefits for co-parents themselves, their children and employers who gain a more engaged and loyal workforce.

“This also has a positive impact on gender equality beyond QBE and reflects the needs of dual career families, as time away from work to care for a child can be more equally split. This step reflects our goal of being a market-leading employer to attract and retain the best people.”

Global goal

Coinciding with its family leave policies, QBE has introduced several new wellbeing-focused initiatives for its UK employees.

These include increasing the standard annual leave allowance to 30 days and expanding private medical cover to include support with fertility investigations and treatment, menopause, gender dysphoria and assessment, as well as early support for autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.

Higgins added that “many of the ideas behind the changes have been generated by our employee inclusion networks”.

She continued: “These new benefits further enhance our offering, which also includes our high trust approach to hybrid working.

“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to take some bold steps in making our benefits offering more inclusive. This is a journey for us and while the changes we’ve announced apply to UK employees only at the moment, revamping our offering for colleagues outside of the UK is a core priority.”