Paid parental leave for all EMEA and Oceania employees: a step towards greater gender equality
May 30, 2023
At Axis, we recognize that the people in our organization are our most valuable resources. We’re a long-term company in all relationships that we build, and it is vital for us to build sustainable relationships with our employees and encourage a healthy work life balance. One way of doing that is to create an inclusive workplace that supports and enables parents to take an active role in caring for their families through paid parental leave.
Our organizations in EMEA and Oceania are now launching gender-neutral paid parental leave programs, which allow Axis employees across the EMEA and Oceania regions, regardless of gender, to take paid leave to bond with their new family members. This is an important step towards strengthening our aims of supporting gender equality and further encouraging participation and sharing in childcare responsibilities.
“It’s about providing choices for our employees, enabling them to balance their family situation in the best possible way”
Sebastian Nilsson, HR Director EMEA
Sebastian Nilsson, HR Director EMEA, explains that the purpose of the new EMEA program is to enable a more diverse and inclusive culture where we strive to provide equal opportunities, maintain wellbeing, and support the balance between career and family responsibilities. He adds “We think this will benefit the individual employee, their family life, and also Axis in the long run. It sends signals about our culture, as well as a more modern way of looking at family life. It’s about providing choices for our employees, enabling them to balance their family situation in the best possible way, and be able to develop a career with Axis. You should not have to choose one or the other.”
ShuHui Yap, HR Business Partner Oceania, adds: “By offering gender-neutral parental leave, we are able to better reflect contemporary trends, offer equitable parental leave for parents, and recognize that both parents are responsible for the upbringing of children. By using gender-neutral language, we recognize the demands of changing family structures.”
When launching the new parental leave programs, we asked a few new parents at Axis across EMEA and Oceania to share their thoughts about it with us. Here’s what they said:
Johnny Lee says “The parental leave benefit has allowed me to spend valuable time with my family in a memorable moment of my new-born’s life. Axis has always been a company which prides itself on workplace culture. It is benefits like these that really show what a great management team and company it is to work for. Not only do I feel valued as an employee, but my family also appreciates the values Axis upholds to ensure a people first policy.”
David Leenders shared his view: “Personally, I think it’s just wonderful! It grants not one, but both parents with important opportunities, personal and business related. Best of both worlds you could say”
Daniel McGee adds: “For me as a father, this means that I not only get to spend time with my child, but also take responsibility for her care. Something that is commonly expected to fall to the mother, further forcing them out of the workplace. Axis has taken a big step in the right direction here.”
Sean Kim thinks that the flexibility has been great: “It helped me and my wife out tremendously with parental leave, as I had the flexibility to take time to comfort my wife when she was, and is, going through sleepless nights.”
We are proud and excited that so many of our colleagues are taking advantage of our parental leave programs.
Learn more about how Axis works with diversity and equality