Global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has extended its parental leave for employees across the India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA) region.
New parents in its offices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Qatar and India are now eligible for six months of paid maternity leave and eight weeks of paid paternity leave. This is to ensure consistency across the entire region and brings maternity leave in line with that already available in India.
Returning mothers will be offered an additional eight paid days off in the first eight weeks after they return and will be given the option for a 12-month no-travel guarantee for a smooth transition back to work, while new fathers will be offered flexibility regarding travel arrangements. Oliver Wyman’s Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha offices now have multi-purpose wellbeing and nursing rooms to help new mothers with their return to the workplace.
The firm has also implemented a programme called Boost 2.0, which aims to provide support to employees before, during and after their parental leave to ease the transition to parenthood while supporting their career. Support continues into the later stages of parenting through regular check-ins for parents, a buddy system, training and workshops.
The organisation has additionally appointed Clare McDonald as wellbeing lead, responsible for managing the wellbeing of employees across the IMEA region. McDonald, who joined the firm in 2013 and has worked across its talent management function for 10 years, will act as a central point of contact and focus on employee support and engagement, data collection and analysis, and designing programmes to enhance employee wellbeing.
Isabell Stobwasser, director of talent for the IMEA region, said: “To drive progress in human capital acquisition and retention, companies must go beyond traditional compensation models and foster safe, equitable, and healthy work environments. People are at the heart of what we do at Oliver Wyman and the wellbeing of our employees and providing everyone with support along their personal journey is a key part of our value proposition.”