Scentre Group recognises the importance of parental leave in providing a work environment which assists employees in balancing their work and parenting commitments.
Making Extraordinary Happen.
The Group has a strong commitment to retaining its skilled employees and in 2015 made a number of changes to its Parental Leave Policy in relation to:
The policy’s eligibility criteria
Entitlements to access paid parental leave
The continuation of superannuation payments during unpaid parental leave
Return to work entitlements
Over the course of 2015, 46 employees initiated a period of parental leave (50 in 2014), most of which (91%) were still on leave at the end of the reporting period. As most of the employees having initiated parental leave in 2015 have not yet returned to the workplace, we provide below an overview of our performance over the period 2012-2015, which provides an accurate picture for return-to-work and retention performance over time. The Group has developed a new methodology which will be used systematically going forward, to consistently track the effectiveness of its parental and flexibility arrangements in an effort to assess the new policies are providing tangible benefits to staff.
Number of employees initiating parental leave during the year
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Making Extraordinary Happen.
Between 2012 and 2015, a total of 187 people took parental leave: 60% returned to the organisation, 15% terminated their employment with Scentre Group and 24% are still on leave at the end of 2015. Of those returning to work, 42% did so in their former capacity while 58% returned to work on reduced hours.
These figures will change as employees currently on leave return to the workforce in 2016. The Group is encouraged by positive trends emerging from annual performance between 2012 and 2015. Meanwhile, the ratio of employees terminating their employment during their leave has decreased steadily from 35% in 2012 to 8% in 2014, reflecting a marked improvement in staff retention.
