Global professional services firm Aon has implemented a new carers’ leave policy in order to support its UK employees with caring responsibilities.
Launched during Carers Week (5-11 June), the policy offers Aon employees five days of paid leave each calendar year, which can be taken as full or half days, and is in addition to their annual leave. All members of staff who are providing unpaid care for relatives, partners or friends who may be elderly, ill or disabled are eligible for the leave.
Aon has also provided its staff with a Carers Week resource pack from its Parents and Carers Business Resource Group. They can additionally attend three webinars during the week, such as caring for someone with dementia hosted by Bright Horizons, guidance on how carers can build their personal support networks hosted by My Family Care, and an open forum discussion hosted by Aon’s Parents and Carers Group.
Chris Dunford, chief people officer at Aon UK, said: “Our employees are our priority and, although we already offer paid leave for carers at their manager’s discretion, we wanted to instil a more formalised framework to help support employees with caring responsibilities and alleviate any concerns around taking time off work.
“We are grateful to the members of our Parents and Carers Business Resource Group for helping to identify where improvements could be made, and we are pleased to implement these changes to align with their feedback. For our employees, it means that if they are supporting someone with a long-term or a short-term illness or disability, they can take time off to help support them and for respite to focus on their own wellbeing.”
Aon also offers six sessions of back-up care each calendar year via My Family Care for when regular arrangements are unavailable. These can be used for any family members, elderly relatives and dependent adults.