Manama: Standard Chartered Bank Bahrain announced the launch of its new employee benefits scheme granting mothers a total of 140 days of maternity leave as well as 10 working days to fathers as paternity leave. This first of its kind benefit in Bahrain’s banking and finance and sector will be implemented in January 2016.
The bank said the new maternity leave scheme is in line with the Supreme Council for Women’s strategy to empower women in banking and finance sector.
The new Standard Chartered parental leave, which will be effective to all employees on 1 January 2016, provides 80 days half paid maternity leave, in addition to the standard 60 days maternity leave required by Bahrain’s Ministry of Labour. Additionally and as per the new scheme, fathers will also benefit from 10 paid working days of paid paternity leave.
“As parents, we all face challenges when our children are born, juggling roles as parents and professionals. I’m delighted to offer this scheme to our employees here in Bahrain, which we hope will help to foster a healthy environment for parents and children alike. This is a first of its kind in Bahrain as it offers not only mothers, but also fathers’ official paternal leave when their children are born so they join in with the responsibilities. This new parental leave benefit is a step forward towards a more equal opportunity environment and in line with the strategy of Her Royal Highness, Princess Sabeeka bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Supreme Council for Women, focused on empowering women in the banking and finance sector and offering flexibility to parents without having either one compromise his or her career or families,” said Hassan Amin Jarrar, Chief Executive Officer at Standard Chartered Bahrain.
“We are excited that an entity such as Standard Chartered Bank has taken the initiative to launch such a scheme, which we believe gives overall benefit and welfare to staff. This definitely provides an environment conducive to parents where it helps them adjust to parenthood as well as help create a productive working environment,” said Dr Mohammed Al Ansari, Assistant Undersecretary of Labour at Ministry of Labour.
“Being at the forefront to empower women in the banking and finance sector in Bahrain, we are very proud of Standard Chartered Bank’s new scheme which is very much in line with the Supreme Council for Women’s strategy and theme for this year. One of the key drivers for success is ensuring that women have a safe and healthy environment to work in, knowing that career progression would not be jeopardised when leave is taken. Additionally, the paternal leave given to fathers is also great as the burden of parenthood can be shared when a new child is born. We thank Standard Chartered for their initiative and look forward to more initiatives of the same from more entities,” said Dr Donya Ahmed, Acting General Director of Policy and Development at the Supreme Council for Women.
This scheme, which is also implemented in other Standard Chartered branches across the globe, was initiated and funnelled from the bank’s global Diversity and Inclusion committee agenda as it recognised through research that women may face tough decisions when it comes to starting families and coming back to work. It also highlights the bank’s focus on work-life balance for individuals who strive to ensure success in both universes.