Mandy Kwasnica and her husband so desperately wanted to adopt they were ready to sink all of their money (and then some) into making their dream a reality. “Adoption is very, very expensive, but we knew in our hearts that this was the right move we were making,” recalls the manager of mortgage sales support at […]
Manulife Financial Corp. is increasing its family leave support for Canadian employees, providing 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid parental and adoption leave, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Canadian employees and their dependants also now have access to full gender affirmation coverage for both surgical and non-surgical treatments, as well as […]
I’m about to embark on the most exciting and terrifying chapter of my life — by the time you read this, I’ll be more than six months pregnant with my first child. With a decade in the industry, writing and editing stories about work-life balance, it’s now time to face the reality myself and try […]
Vodacom Group, a South African telecommunications firm, is providing all global employees with 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Employees will be able to take the leave if they or their partner are having a baby, adopting a child or becoming a parent through surrogacy. They can take […]
In 2019, Telus Communications Inc. bumped up its combined lifetime plan maximum per employee for fertility benefits to $15,000 for both treatment procedures and drugs. “More than anything, it’s just recognizing that we want to be a good place for women to work,” says Carol Craig, director of pensions and benefits at Telus. Generally, Canadian […]
Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge employees who were on leave in the months leading up to the coronavirus shutdown appear to have fallen through a crack in the federal government’s wage subsidy program. The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees has pointed out that the airline’s unilateral use of the […]
Women are in a worse position than men when it comes to pension savings, thanks to several systemic factors. So how can plan sponsors bridge the gender pension gap and help women prepare for retirement? The gender pension gap continues to be a real and pressing issue. Globally, the World Economic Forum estimates that women’s […]
Scotiabank is expanding its maternity and parental leave top-up pay for Canadian employees and providing access to a virtual health-care program. Eligible employees will receive six weeks of parental leave top-up pay at 100 per cent of salary, which supplements employment insurance maternity and parental benefits. As such, birth mothers will receive 12 weeks of […]
Among countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates and one of the highest gender pay and employment gaps. In addition, according to a 2019 OECD report, men in the country are reluctant to take parental leave because of perceived constraints put on them by […]
Employees’ parental leave has “no measurable effect” on their company’s profits, output or survival, nor does it have a negative impact on the well-being of those employees’ colleagues, according to a study by the U.S.-based National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper, which looked at data from small firms in Denmark, compared organizations where female employees were […]