OC&C launches equalised paid parental leave for all parents globally

Monday 19 June 2023 | News

We've just launched fully equalised paid parental leave for all employees in a global move towards gender equality.

The market-leading family policy, implemented across all 12 OC&C offices, promotes shared care through both equalising paid leave and introducing flexibility for how that leave is taken; allowing all parents, regardless of gender, to make decisions based on what works for them.

For France, Poland, China and Italy the equalised allowance of paid parental leave is unrivalled in the industry.

We're also providing support before, during and after leave – including ramp-up options that help with a smoother transition back to work, parental coaching, emergency childcare and flexible hours.

A true example of company values and talent strategy as Will Hayllar, our Global Managing Partner explains:

“OC&C’s strategy is simple: to be the best home for the best strategy talent. If we get that right, everything else flows from there – especially providing clients with the exceptional strategic advice that has built our reputation. We have done a good job over the last 35 years building that “best home”, but a big gap has been making the career sustainable for primary carers, too often women. Our work over the last four years to improve our proposition to parents is already showing results, and we are extremely excited about the impact fully equalised leave will have – on parents’ ability to form truly special bonds with their children, on the careers of our parent colleagues and their partners, and on OC&C’s ability to attract and retain the very best talent.”

Making bold plans a reality

Upon the announcement Danielle Lestrade, OC&Cs Global Director of People stated,

“We wholeheartedly believe that becoming a parent should not be a barrier to advancing in your career and for the past four years, we have been evolving our entire parental strategy to reflect this. We live in a time of dual-career households (be that through choice or necessity) and traditional parental policies are increasingly coming under scrutiny for not reflecting this dynamic. Instead, these traditions push birth givers, mothers, or primary adopters to do the lion’s share of early life childcare while the other parent returns to work. In recent years we have seen statutory shared leave become available to our staff in many countries, but this often comes with a low pay rate that renders it unviable to many working individuals. We have therefore continued to see an unequal approach to how parents choose to balance childcare and work in the early years, impacting career progression of female staff and ultimately driving the gender imbalance we see at senior levels in the industry.

Our new policy will empower fathers (and other non-birth parents) to spend more time at home following the arrival of a child, enabling their partner to return to work at a point that suits that individual family. We also expect this will create a more equal pace of career progression between male and female peers at OC&C.

I am extremely proud to be part of a firm that is not only willing to call out the source of the problem but is committed enough to take such a bold step forward in solving it.”

The policy offers life-enriching benefits, empowering OC&C employees to balance family life alongside pursuing successful careers. By tackling historical imbalances between maternity and paternity leave, the firm is eradicating barriers to gender equality and supporting its employees during a life-defining moment.

OC&C’s Diversity and Inclusion Partner, Simona Dossena, noted “Equalising paid parental leave is one of our many commitments to diversity and inclusion at OC&C. Our employee-led Global Diversity Networks, alongside our leadership and People teams, are instrumental in initiating and shaping all our D&I policies, and our Parental Network has been a particularly important contributor to shaping this policy. We are collectively committed to building the best home for the best strategy talent for ALL our colleagues.’’