King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has launched a new parental leave policy in Australia and Singapore.
As part of the firm's Great Place to Work & Grow strategy, we decided to review and further enhance our parental leave policy to better support our KWM team members who choose to start or grow their families and to ensure that this support is available to all parents regardless of parental role.
KWM's new parental leave policy will entitle any new parent or carer, an equal opportunity to take 26 weeks of paid parental leave, which can be take any time within 24 months of a child's arrival. In addition, this 26-week paid parental leave benefit will be available to all parents and will no longer distinguish between primary of secondary carers. Furthermore, eligibility for paid parental leave starts from the moment an individual commences as a permanent KWM team member.
Commenting on the new policy Berkeley Cox, Chief Executive Partner, Australia said:
"I am delighted to launch our new parental leave policy. We recognise and appreciate that becoming a parent is such a special time and we wanted to make a commitment to support our people during this period. regardless of their gender or parental role. Our new parental leave policy also signals KWM's strong commitment to gender equality."
KWM's paid parental leave policy was announced internally on Tuesday 26 October 2021 and is effective from this date.
