HPE's new benefits for staff: Extended parental leave, Wellness Fridays, and more

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has rolled out of a number of new programmes for its employees in Singapore, as part of its 'Work that fits your life' initiative, which aims to enrich personal wellbeing and work-life balance.

These benefits include a 26-week paid parental leave scheme for new parents, parental transition support, retirement transition support, as well as Wellness Fridays, and are detailed as follows:

26-week parental leave scheme for new parents

In August this year, HPE introduced 26 weeks of paid parental leave for its employees in India. Following this, the company has now introduced a similar scheme for its employees in Singapore, applicable to employees who have been working with the company for at least a year.

In particular, new parents will now benefit from 26 weeks of paid leave within the first 12 months of giving birth or adopting a child. This is up from the previous 16-week paid leave for mothers, and two-week paid leave for fathers.

Parental transition support for up to 36 months

In line with the above benefit, new parents will also be eligible for a flexible work arrangement policy, whereby they have the opportunity to work part-time for up to 36 months following the birth or adoption of a child. This way, employees are given much more time to bond with their new child and given more space to transition back to work.

Extended paid parental leave for existing families

Apart from employees who enter parenthood after this latest rollout, those who have recently become new parents on or after 1 May 2019 will also be eligible for the extended paid parental leave benefit.

Retirement transition support

As for employees who are approaching their time to retire, they will be allowed to work part-time while adjusting to the lifestyle changes of retirement. In the same period, this will give employees the opportunity to transfer their knowledge to their team/ successor, while also potentially serving as a mentor to other HPE employees.

Wellness Fridays initiative

In benefiting all 1,300 employees in Singapore, the company has introduced Wellness Fridays, as part of its global wellness and work-life balance initiative. Under this benefit, employees are encouraged to leave work three hours early on one Friday per month, to either volunteer, spend time on personal/career development, or focus on their physical and emotional health.

Commenting on the move by HPE to rollout these initiative, Narinder Kapoor, Managing Director, APAC at HPE, said: "At HPE in Singapore, we want all of our employees to be reaching their full potential in their careers. That means supporting them as they grow their families as well.

Rohini Sachitanand, APAC HR Director, HPE, added: "HPE's culture values employees’ lives both inside and outside of the office, and our benefits reflect this.

"By focusing on wellness and flexibility we are able to build a culture where our people can develop and thrive, even in times of transition at home."

Photo / 123RF