Ingenia Communities, whose workforce is two-thirds women and has equal gender representation at Board and Executive level, has announced a new parental leave scheme.
The listed land lease owner/operator will increase paid leave to 26 weeks and provide paid superannuation for a year.
Ingenia Chief Executive, Simon Owen, said the new policy is incredibly important, particularly for women, and seeks to redress the disadvantage many women face when it comes to retirement savings.
“At Ingenia, primary carers have typically been women and our customer base in our lifestyle and rental communities is predominately women. We are all aware of the gender pay gap experienced by women, specifically those over 55 years old who may struggle in retirement, and wanted to help break this cycle,” he said.
“When we looked at our parental leave policy, we wanted to address the lag in retirement savings affecting women, as well as providing additional paid leave.”
Simon Owen cover story: SATURDAY
Primary carers will receive 26 weeks’ full pay, superannuation paid for the full 12 months of parental leave, five additional days of paid carer’s leave, and 10 days of paid transition leave to support a return to work. Ingenia also provides two weeks of full pay to secondary carers.
Kristy Minter (pictured), Ingenia’s General Manager of People & Culture, said that offering additional support for new parents is both culturally and commercially the right decision for the company.
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It enables us to attract, and importantly, retain talent. And we want our people who take parental leave to return at the earliest opportunity and in a positive and productive manner,” she said.
Ingenia Communities will announce its FY22 financial results on 24 August.
