PepsiCo ANZ has increased its paid parental leave to 16 weeks, in a demonstration of support for working families within their company.
The company has also increased the parental leave for secondary carers from one to two weeks, and stated the policy is also available to the PepsiCo employees who are currently on parental leave
PepsiCo ANZ CEO Robbert Rietbroek said it was important to champion workplace diversity and inclusion.
“Allowing our employees more flexibility will ensure they can enjoy a more fulfulling work life balance,” he said.
He explained that “smart businesses” recognised the importance of supporting employees and honouring their comittment to working families and gender equality.
“[One] of the ways to do this is ensuring that women and men are supported and come back to work after they become parents,” he said.
PepsiCo Senior Director of human resources Shiona Watson said PepsiCo was “constantly” looking at ways to attract and retain good talent, and that the new policy was a “logical next step” to “create a workplace that celebrates diversity and meets the needs of individual employees”.
“Around 70 per cent of our sales leadership team are female, over 60 per cent of our R&D team are female and a further 40 per cent of senior roles across ANZ are filled by women,” she said.
C&I Week asked PepsiCo, as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality with the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), if they planned on redressing the gender imbalance in their sales leadership and R&D teams, however a response has not been forthcoming.
The average number of weeks allocated to paid parental leave in Australia sits at 9.7 weeks.
Adding to its commitment to gender equality, PepsiCo will be working to support International Women’s Day on March 8.