Fidelity International Announces Additional 5-Day Leave for these Employees

Fidelity International has announced a company-wide 'Family Care Leave’ policy. All employees within the organisation will have access to at-least five paid days of leave per calendar year to look after family members in need of care. This policy is effective from 1 March  2021 and will allow staff to take time off for a variety of reasons including; caring for elderly parents, looking after a sick or disabled family member or to manage unexpected events such as nursery closures.

On the announcement of the leave policy, Upasana Nischal, Head of HR India, Fidelity International commented: “The wellbeing of our employees is of paramount importance to us and being compassionate is one of our core behaviours. Based on multiple pulse surveys conducted over the last several months, we gathered that many of our colleagues needed support to balance their work and family care responsibilities. The Family Care Leave introduced for employees is aimed at supporting them during those critical times when they need to attend to their elderly parents care for young children or look after a sick family member. We believe that this initiative will also help our colleague’s wellbeing as it would help alleviate stress that they may be facing due to competing work and family care responsibilities.

The new policy is the latest benefit being offered to support Fidelity International employees to balance their work and family responsibilities. Eight months ago, the company has announced an Enhanced Paternity Leave enabling all staff to take the same amount of paid leave as mothers and primary carers.

Sally Nelson, Chief People Officer, Fidelity International, said: “The wellbeing of our employees is incredibly important to us and we continue to look for ways to ensure our employees feel supported to balance work and family responsibilities, allowing our people to be happy and effective at work. Fidelity Family Care Leave has been in the planning for a while but the challenges of the recent COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted even further the caring pressures we can all sometimes face and the importance of offering the flexibility to provide that vital care for our loved ones.  We are therefore delighted to be able to offer this additional support to our Fidelity people.”