Large companies with a good maternity policy

[Mightbeamum1day]

Hi,

I currently work for a company with a pretty shoddy maternity policy. It's a very large international company with a high proportion of woman at child bearing age. A group of us are looking to make a difference and as a starting point wanted to find out about similar organisations benefits. Can anyone either point is in the right direction or speak from their own experience?

Just to point out, none of us have had children so we're a bit new to this so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You need comparisons from companies in the same sector as far as possible. Are you able to say what your company does?

Sunday Times do surveys about the best companies to work for every year. The survey includes male:female ratio and age profile as well as sector and size, and the results are available online, but it doesn't appear to give specific information about maternity leave provision. Maybe someone knows of another publicly available survey?

What sector do you work in? Our maternity policy is really good:

3 months at full pay, 3 months at half pay, then you move onto statutory for 3 months and can choose to take the last 3 months unpaid.

If you choose this enhanced option then you have to return to work for at least 12 months after mat leave or you have to pay the money back.

If you go on mat leave again within 12 months of returning, you aren't entitled to the enhanced pay, just statutory mat pay.

Hope this helps your cause.

My old job was similar to bobs - altho I got 4 months of full pay.

And I didn't return and they didn't make me pay it back - but I'd been there for 5 years and all very amiable.

You had to be there a while to be entitled to it though - 2 or 3 years I think. Which is fair enough IMHO.

Mine was (is) 6 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay. That is yours to keep whatever you decide. If you return to work, you are entitled to a return-to-work bonus which is another 12 weeks half pay, but you have to stay for a year to keep it. You can opt not to receive it until your 12th pay packet.

I used to work for a company with a back to work bonus if you stayed for 6 months after returning from ML.

I hear that Barclays, Asda and BBC have good enhanced maternity packages but no more info to back this up.

In the City, mat leave enhancement tends to be good (financial and professional services): 6 months full pay is fairly common and in many places there is no expectation that you then work for a set period (not all). Sector and I think geographic region is important to assess.

Here (media sector) we get SMP while on leave then, on return, 25% extra pay for a given amount of time depending on your length of service - so I get a year of 125% pay.

Hi ladies, thanks for your responses. It's great to hear that you all seem to be on the receiving end of decent maternity policies and interesting how different they all are.
I work in the travel and tourism sector near London. It would be great if you wouldn't mind adding the sector/region you work in so I can accurately assess and compare.
Thanks again for all your help with this - hopefullly we will be able to put a good case across for making our policy better!

Look on www.workingfamilies.org.uk. They are a charity and did a big study on family friendly employer policies

Jag Land Rover offer 12 months full pay! But then they expect the mothers to return to work full time.

Bobs, I think we might work in the same place! Is it Big?

Network Rail, 6 months full pay, 3 months smp, 3 months unpaid and you don't have to pay it back if you don't return to work. Bonus stops when on ML though.

Utility sector - I had 6 months full pay, 3 months half pay and 3 months unpaid. I seem to remember the tax rebates that came in the 3 months unpaid where a nice surprise

I.T. North west. Mine was 3 months full pay then 6 months SMP. Also full annual performance rated bonus (based on an average performance as not in work to perform!). No need to repay anything if not returning to work.

I work for a travel and tourism company in the midlands (used to work for a large international company in the same industry in luton, wonder if it's the same place as you)
We get SMP only -this may not be helpful but thought you should get well rounded replies. In my experience most people get SMP only.
I have never worked anywhere with an enhanced packed and do not know of anyone who has got more than SMP except those in government jobs (NHS, teachers etc)