It’s great to see renewed attention being given to paid parental leave this week, with the government indicating a review into current entitlements.

Our people at NextSense already have access to a fantastic 14 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers and six weeks for secondary carers.

When it comes to supporting NextSense staff with family responsibilities, paid parental leave is right up there with what matters most. We know that having shared parental leave allows for more equal parenting and career roles within families and that a positive work-home balance can lead to higher levels of work satisfaction, productivity, and morale.

That’s why NextSense introduced equitable paid parental leave, with greater flexibility, for all our people, in the one NextSense Enterprise Agreement that came into effect early this year.

NextSense bolstered and equalised our parental leave entitlements to 14 weeks leave for primary carers and six weeks for secondary carers. We did this because during twelve months of early consultation and negotiation for our enterprise agreement, our people spoke up. Our people, who are almost 90% women, said how important parental leave was to both partners and how partners were missing out on precious quality time with their newborns under previous arrangements.

We know having certainty of this entitlement is precious and well appreciated by NextSense staff who have accessed this leave and its built-in flexible options. Developing a new enterprise agreement for most of our people was about putting our people first and creating a level playing field by harmonising workplace conditions across the organisation. The challenge we faced, after merging with several other organisations over time, was to unify under one brand and consolidate 13 industrial instruments into one enterprise agreement.

Our paid parental leave entitlements are just one part of the innovative and progressive conditions and entitlements introduced in our enterprise agreement. From unlimited personal or carer’s leave that includes access to emergency disaster leave, leave to care for a family member or pet, leave required in circumstances of domestic violence, and a raft of other eligible circumstances, our people are at the centre.