Launceston, September 15 2022. Tasmania’s leading natural gas company, Tas Gas, today announced a new Parental Leave policy that includes a range of initiatives designed to make work and life for new parents at the company easier, to support greater gender equality for its employees and in doing so increase its ability to attract and retain employees in an increasingly competitive employment market.
By allowing parents full access to parental leave regardless of whether they are the primary or secondary carer, extending its paid leave to 16 weeks, and paying Superannuation on unpaid parental leave, Tas Gas’ new Parental Leave policy positions the company as a leading employer in Tasmania and within small companies nationwide.
For many small companies offering parental leave can be financially and operationally difficult. According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) large organisations are the most likely to offer paid parental leave, with nearly 90% of companies with 5000 or more staff paying parental leave, compared to 54% of organisations with 250 staff and less,
Phaedra Deckart, CEO of Tas Gas said “We know how important being a new parent is, and despite being a small company our goal with our new parental leave policy is to support and enable our employees to grow their career while enjoying this special time in their life. Investing in our people in this way is well worth it.”
“Tas Gas has purposefully ensured its parental leave policy is gender neutral, ensuring all new parents regardless of the role they play at home or at work, are provided with flexibility during their child’s early life,” she said.
While more than 81% of employers pay Superannuation on paid parental leave, the majority of companies don’t extend this to unpaid leave, and this is a major contributor to women’s superannuation account balances being more than 20% lower than those of men at retirement age, according to figures published by the WGEA.
“We recognise the gender gap that exists in superannuation balances and by ensuring superannuation is paid for the first 12 months of parental leave, whether that is paid or unpaid leave, we hope to play a role in improving women’s economic security,” said Ms Deckart.
Tas Gas’ new Parental Leave policy includes the following benefits:
Primary or secondary careers are able to access the Parental Leave policy equally regardless of role or gender.
Sixteen weeks paid parental leave can be taken within the first 12 months following birth, adoption, surrogacy or fostering, or 32 weeks at half pay.
Superannuation paid for up to 12 months of parental leave including during any unpaid period of parental leave.
No minimum service requirement to access parental leave for permanent employees
