CEO urges other employers to 'match' their offered benefits
KiwiBank CEO Steve Jurkovich has announced additional parental leave benefits as he urged other employers to match their offer, according to reports.
Jurkovich announced that Kiwibank will provide six weeks of baby bonus leave for both parents, increase KiwiSaver contributions, and reduce working hours at full pay for four weeks to support parents' return-to-work transition, Radio New Zealand reported.
The CEO made the announcement as he called on other employers to "look at our parental policies and packages and think we should match that."
However, he acknowledged that while large organisations will be able to implement these measures, some smaller businesses might not be able to.
"There's a key couple of areas, such as KiwiSaver contributions, where the government has got a part to play. But ultimately, the employers across New Zealand have got the best and biggest moves," Jurkovich said as quoted by RNZ.
He made the call after Kiwibank's latest survey found that 70% believe the financial burden of having children is getting harder, RNZ reported.
According to the poll, the burden affects disproportionately more women, with more than a third of them leaving the workforce due to parenting.
"The really uncomfortable truth is that we don't value caregiving in the same way that we do paid employment, and so that sort of comfort level around 'that's just the way it is' has prevailed for too long," he said as quoted by RNZ.
"Sometimes it will be unconscious biases and the only way to tackle them is to make people more aware of them."
