Coles shows increased support for parents

Coles Group has announced that its employees will be receiving an enhanced paid parental leave package as of 1 September.

Kris Webb, Coles Group’s chief of people and culture, hopes the updates will help staff when getting ready to become parents.

Starting tomorrow, the 12-month waiting period for paid parental leave will be scrapped for primary and secondary carers across the business.

Parental leave also been increased from two to four weeks of paid leave for secondary carers. A Coles statement said: “The secondary carers leave will now be able to be taken up to 24 months after the birth, adoption, or surrogacy birth of a child, instead of the current 12 months. And Coles will be offering flexibility in how the leave is taken, for example one day, multiple days, or in blocks of days.” 

Other parental leave benefits being introduced relate to superannuation and the loss of a pregnancy.

When announcing these changes, Ms Webb stated, “For people who are having a child and wanting to work for Coles, we don’t want them to feel they need to wait to receive primary carers leave, because we know that this is not always possible. No one should feel they need to hold off having a family because of their job.”

“We also are pleased to be extending our secondary carers leave because we know how important it is for primary carers to have the support of their partners during these important times of their lives. This policy applies to team members who work in our stores, our distribution centres and our store support centre, so it’s really expansive and we hope will make a big difference to our team members planning to grow their families.”

“We want to make Coles a great place to work for all team members. This means supporting them through significant life moments such as planning to welcome a new addition to their family.”

HR Leader applauds the decision to include secondary carers as a positive step towards supporting new parents.

Lawyers Weekly recently reported on Rowan Kendall who took up his law firm’s parental leave policy, which he said helped him properly bond with his daughter.

“Being a full-time dad was at the same time the most difficult thing that I have ever done, and also the most amazing. I distinctly remember calling my wife at 11am on my first day of solo parental leave and asking ‘what now?’, and rightly being told that it was my job to figure it out. I had a lot of experience taking care of Thea by then, but being the only one around was a completely different ball game,” he told Lawyers Weekly.

Coles’ announcement comes just days after the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) released a statement in support of 52 weeks of paid leave by 2030.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil claims, “Australia has the second worst government funded parental leave policy in the developed world.”

“In 2022 women shouldn’t have to give up on having a family and men shouldn’t miss out on being involved in raising their kids because paid parental leave is insufficient.”

Lori Mihalich-Levin also discussed support for parents in the workplace in an article for HR Leader in July.

“The reintegration back into work after welcoming a baby into your family isn’t a week-long 'okay, now life is back to normal' transition. Rather, when an employee returns from parental leave and rejoins a team, this transition is often a several-month – or even a full year – of work in progress,” said Ms Mihalich-Levin.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.