Why is your organisation committed to be a family friendly workplace?
At Zinfra and Jemena we are committed to being a family friendly workplace as part of our ongoing commitment to making positive progress in developing an engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce. We committed to supporting our people who have parenting, carer and caring responsibilities, recognising the challenges of family demands and how that can change over time. Our goal is to be a great place to belong for all our team members.
Point of Difference
Share a family friendly workplace initiative that your organisation excels with and the impact it is having on the workplace culture?
At Zinfra and Jemena we have a ‘Supporting Families’ offering which brings together a collection of useful resources and information for team members with family caring responsibilities. A key component of our supporting families offering is our parental leave policy. Some key features of our parental leave policy include:
Gender neutral parental leave policy to suit all family types offering equitable parental leave for parents.
No minimum service eligibility requirement to access Paid Parental Leave / Primary Carers Leave for Permanent employees;
Fourteen weeks paid parental leave for the primary carer or 28 weeks at half pay.
Two weeks partner leave at the time of birth/adoption/legal guardianship as well as up to five days of personal leave entitlement;
Primary carers leave can be taken in “the first twenty-four (24) months” following birth/adoption/legal guardianship
Employer superannuation contributions continue during unpaid components of Parental leave. Maximum benefit is twelve months – including all leave taken during Parental leave absence.
This has positively impacted our company culture by encouraging team members to take time off to spend with their families.
How
How have you seen your people respond to this initiative?
When updating our parental leave policy, as part of our overall Supporting Families Toolkit, we took into account what our people told us would be of value to them. Team members told us they wanted greater flexibility as to when they could take parental leave. As a result we extended our parental leave to be able to be taken within 24 months from birth, adoption or legal guardianship. Another important uplift was the introduction of superannuation on the unpaid portion of parental leave up to 12 months. We have had very positive response to this initiative and our Diversity and Inclusion strategy and initiatives overall, for example D&I was one of our two strongest factors in our November 2021 People Survey receiving a score of 82%.
Outcomes
What are some of the business benefits you see from being a family inclusive organisation?
We believe being a family inclusive organisation promotes employee wellbeing. The benefit of building a family friendly culture is that our team members can effectively manage their work and family life. The benefits include a more engaged and productive workforce and this contributes significantly to our ability to attract and retain talent. We are also proud to be contributing more broadly to shifting attitudes around the equal share of caring responsibilities, and ultimately supporting the advancement of gender equality.
Employee Stories
Nicole Miller, General Manager Human Resources, Jemena
Initially starting with Jemena on a six month contract in 2014, Jemena’s family friendly culture has supported Nicole’s career progression, allowing her to pursue a number of career development opportunities through the birth of her first child, and the impending arrival of her second.
Having moved through four different roles in eight years, Nicole’s most recent appointment as General Manager Human Resources, was made while six months pregnant and about to commence 12 months parental leave. Nicole is proud to work for a company where building a family is not a deterrent to career progression.
“I’ve seen a shift in the culture of Jemena that has embraced flexible and hybrid working arrangements, enabling me to be confident and excited in the promotion to General Manager while building my family,” said Nicole.
“After parental leave, I will be returning to work four days a week with the full support of my manager, enhanced by family friendly initiatives that build an inclusive and supportive working environment.”
Jamie McAlindon, Works Program Manager, Zinfra
For the last 14 years Jamie has worked in the energy industry and transferred to the Zinfra team in 2019. In 2021 he took 14 weeks parental leave for the birth of his second child.
“Having the ability to take 14 weeks parental leave for the birth of my second child enabled my wife and I a better pathway to transition to parenthood while both working full time.
Despite my role being a difficult one to cover, my manager and team were fully supportive of my decision to take the full leave understanding the need for me to be at home was important.
It’s an opportunity I am grateful for and of which not many of my friends have access too. It truly shows Zinfra’s understanding of the need for a good work life balance.”
From Our Leaders
“We understand that many of our people have parenting, carer and caring responsibilities outside of work that often intertwine with work hours. Jemena and Zinfra are focused on ensuring our Group is a great place to belong and that across our workforce, our people are supported, valued and celebrated.”
Craig Ypinazar | EGM People, Safety & Resilience
