Invesco has enhanced its paid parental leave for all new parents, regardless of gender, with 100% full basic salary for 26 continuous weeks
Available to employees across EMEA regions, new parents will be able to take advantage of the new scheme within 12 months of becoming a parent, via birth, adoption or surrogacy, meaning parents can split or share time off with their new additions.
Invesco said the scheme has been backdated to apply to anyone who has become a parent since 1 January 2020 and it has also introduced a phased return to work scheme, where parents can take full pay while working 80% of their normal work hours during the first six weeks after parental leave.
The group has also partnered with gender diversity consultancy Talking Talent who will offer new parents and their managers at Invesco support via individual or group coaching.
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Invesco EMEA chief executive Doug Sharp said: “Developing a gender-neutral approach to pay and the parenting experience is part of our commitment to encourage equality in the workplace. Being a working parent myself, I understand the need for flexibility. I strongly believe that a firm’s culture is one of the most important considerations for attracting and keeping talent.
“Encouraging and supporting our staff and the teams they work with to feel that Invesco is a place where they can develop their careers and meet their family objectives as well, has been one of the priorities within our diversity and inclusion focus across EMEA.”
Improving gender diversity has been a key priority within the asset management industry over the past few years with many firms realising they need to make their companies more attractive to working parents, and particularly women who have years of experience but feel they cannot return to work after starting a family due to a lack of flexibility.
In October 2019, Aberdeen Standard Investments announced nine-months full pay for new mothers and fathers as part of a comprehensive overhaul of its parental leave policies.
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During the April 2020 round of Gender Pay Gap reporting in the UK, few firms were able to boast improved numbers.
AJ Bell had the smallest pay gap of the firms Portfolio Adviser looked at (a list of 29 asset and wealth management firms that disclosed their numbers for 2019) for the second year running. Legal & General Investment Management also managed to shrink its median pay gap, which fell from 22.8% in 2018 to 19.6% in 2019, while Axa Investment Managers reduced its median gap by 2% to 24.9%.
Merian Global Investors made one of the biggest improvements on closing its gender pay gap, bringing its median figure down 6% to 25%.
However, St James’s Place and Merian reported a mean gender bonus gap of 84.5% and 90% respectively.
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