PwC UK supporting returning dads

Ian Elliott, Chief People Officer at PwC UK LLP

“Supporting returning parents is incredibly important to our firm. We want our people to feel they can bring their whole selves to work and feel comfortable sharing their successes and challenges – including those around parenting. With so many PwC colleagues balancing both work and parental responsibilities, we ensure that we have extensive support in place for all parents. This includes our recently enhanced paternity and shared parental leave policies, and support for premature births and neonatal care.

“We’ve found that both parents benefit from having flexible parental leave options and this results in a positive impact on both home and work lives.”

Sajjad Hassam, a Director in Deals

“Having returned to work after six months of shared parental leave, my immediate team and the wider PwC firm have been incredibly supportive. There is a recognition that I have additional responsibilities at home, but equally career ambitions in the workplace; and both are achievable. It’s also recognised that my transition back to work has an impact on my spouse who is still on maternity leave.

“The support goes beyond the financial package that PwC provides, which is being further enhanced next month. Having access to a dedicated parents and carers network, mentoring and most importantly senior sponsorship from leadership has been key in enabling me to take parental leave, but also in managing the transition back to a full-time role.”

Tom Kirkham is a Director at the company

“I took 15 weeks leave for my first child’s birth. As a first-time dad, the leave gave me the opportunity to spend time with my child, establish myself as a parent and support my wife during the first few months. I felt supported during the leave and able to choose the level of contact that worked for me – in the end I chose to do social visits to the office which was a great way to keep connected to everyone. My team also made sure I could switch off from work during the period and focus on my newborn.

“Prior to the leave, the SPACE network and a coaching course offered by the business helped prepare me for the leave and subsequent return to work. I came back full-time vs a phased return. The leave allowed my wife and I to grow our confidence as new parents so much so that my wife might return to work earlier than initially planned. The flexible working policies help with sharing childcare responsibilities, so I am able to balance this with work commitments.  The level of support offered to dads is above and beyond the Government legislation from a financial perspective, making it much more feasible for expecting dads to take extended leave.”

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