Atkins extends parental leave

Consulting engineer Atkins, Canadian-owned these days, has extended the amount of leave available to staff who become parents or adopt a child.

Atkins’ revised family leave and pay entitlements for staff in the UK includes an extended maternity pay offering of six months.

The new pay entitlements for UK colleagues expecting a baby on or after 1st January 2023 include:

• company maternity and adoption pay to be enhanced to 26 weeks' full pay

• paternity leave arrangements (recently renamed partner leave to include same-sex couples) will be enhanced to four weeks' full pay

• parents will have the option to transfer up to four weeks of the above pay (subject to statutory leave requirements) to support a planned period of shared parental leave

• A maternity return to work bonus for all UK staff that give birth.

All of these benefits will be available to employees who have a minimum of six months' service. Jilly Calder, vice president of human resources, said: “We want to provide an environment where employees wishing to start a family feel encouraged and supported to do so and are able to balance their work commitments with growing their family.

“Our current pay arrangements for those taking family leave are already enhanced beyond the statutory entitlement and we're proud to further improve these arrangements to support our current and future employees, which we believe are market-leading in our sector.”