New benefits from BAT

British American Tobacco (BAT), which employs more than 55,000 people, is launching in all the countries in which it operates a new range of benefits aimed at helping new parents employed by the company balance their home and work lives during the first year of parenthood.
Effective globally from January 1, the new benefits include a minimum of 16 weeks’ fully-paid maternity leave for new mothers and adoptive parents and includes also a return to work guarantee, flexible working opportunities and an online advice service offering coaching support for all parents whenever they need it.
BAT said the initiative would make a major difference by offering significantly better terms than existing legal requirements in ‘many’ of the 180 countries in which the group operated, including the US, where new mothers employed by Reynolds American Inc, which was acquired by the group last year, currently received on average six weeks paid leave, in line with US legislation.
Some of the other countries that will benefit from the initiative include: Algeria, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan. In all, the new benefit will go above and beyond local requirements in 26 countries where BAT directly employs 20,000 people.
“Here at BAT, it’s of such great importance to us that our organisation is made up of as many different types of people as possible – ensuring they are rewarded, appreciated and supported, especially at times when they need it most,” Nicandro Durante, BAT’s CEO was quoted as saying in a press note issued today.
“We want to ensure no-one at BAT has to choose between their career and their family and that’s why this will be available to colleagues all over the world. We are proud to be offering this new range of parental benefits on a global scale and we are looking forward to seeing the changes this will hopefully make to the lives of both our current and future employees.”