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29th June 2023
How Vodafone is supporting working fathers
Not only are the awards an honour but also a huge acknowledgement of the progress we are making in creating a fairer and more equal working environment here at Vodafone.
Here are some of the amazing things we have been doing to support working families:
- We have a wealth of policies and toolkits available including our Flexible Working, Shared Parental Leave, Enhanced pregnancy Loss, Premature birth, Parental & Carer’s leave, Compassionate and Unexpected Care Leave, Adoption Leave policies.
- All employees have access to a holistic Wellbeing suite including but not limited to: full family access to remote GP, dedicated Mental Health First Aiders, Self-help apps and access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
- We offer financial wellbeing support: including the use of Nudge to help build financial planning/ resilience (contains specific budgeting help for major life changes &how to talk to your family and children about money).
- Our Share Save scheme helps working dads by allowing breaks in the savings period for up to 12m this helps readjustment to new financial circumstances.
- In November 2022, we took targeted action in response to the cost of living crisis, impacting many families: employees earning below £25,000 given a 10% increase, employees earning between £25,000 - £35,000 received £1000 additional payment.
Hear from some of our people about the support they've received thanks to some of our policies:
My daughter was 6 month’s old when I joined the organisation. The Paternity leave policy enables employees to take time off in blocks of 8 weeks, the first within 6 weeks of the child’s birth and the second any time before they turn 18 months! This was fantastic news but surely it wouldn’t apply to children born before working for the company, but it did! I was supported in taking time off across September. Even more surprisingly, father’s get 6 months of 80/20 leave too. Next Friday will be my last non-working Friday and I’ll have to snap back to the reality of a 5 day week. It has been very helpful in the last 6 months as that’s the one day my daughter isn’t in nursery (because that’s an expense too far) and we’ve been able to take some great days out and build memories. None of it possible without the flexibility from the Paternity policy and the support of my manager.
I have used the organisation’s 16 week fully paid paternity policy over the last 2 years. Taking my first eight weeks when my son was born was a huge support to me and my family, providing time to support my partner as first time parents, bonding as a family, creating routines with bedtimes etc, a really special period where I could be the best dad possible with all the first milestones. Returning to work for seven months, management supported flexible working allowing me to continue being a present parent, whilst my second period of paternity leave supported my partner in returning to focus on her career, and me making memories with my son without financial compromise, delaying paid childcare. My manager made this really smooth by having someone cover my role, so I could fully focus on time with my son. The 80/20 policy supported the family transitioning with nursery drop offs etc, allowing time making memories with my son for six months with no financial impact. This benefitted me and the company, by further increasing my sense of belonging, work life balance and productivity without inhibiting my career - during my 80/20 period I was supported to gain a promotion to a new role.
I have used the organisation’s 16 week fully paid paternity policy over the last 2 years. Taking my first eight weeks when my son was born was a huge support to me and my family, providing time to support my partner as first time parents, bonding as a family, creating routines with bedtimes etc, a really special period where I could be the best dad possible with all the first milestones. Returning to work for seven months, management supported flexible working allowing me to continue being a present parent, whilst my second period of paternity leave supported my partner in returning to focus on her career, and me making memories with my son without financial compromise, delaying paid childcare. My manager made this really smooth by having someone cover my role, so I could fully focus on time with my son. The 80/20 policy supported the family transitioning with nursery drop offs etc, allowing time making memories with my son for six months with no financial impact. This benefitted me and the company, by further increasing my sense of belonging, work life balance and productivity without inhibiting my career - during my 80/20 period I was supported to gain a promotion to a new role.
