Stockland leading Australia on parenting policies

Stockland’s strong and long-standing support for gender equality has today been recognised as among the best in Australia.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has selected Stockland as one of eight organisations to profile who are “using smart strategies to create greater equality between women and men in their workplaces.”

Stockland Managing Director and CEO, Mark Steinert, said: “We have worked collaboratively with our people to design and implement a workplace culture that is truly supportive and flexible to the diverse needs of all team members and in particular parents and carers in our workforce.

"We have put in place practical, on-the-ground initiatives to give our people the opportunity to develop professionally and be supported personally.

"It is a great achievement for Stockland to be recognised by the WGEA in this way, and very exciting to see that our work will be able to help other organisations find and implement solutions to promote better gender equality in the workplace.”

Stockland’s Parental Transitions program has helped achieve a consistent, more than 90% return to work rate since 2010 (92% in the 2016 financial year), compared to 70% before 2009.

WGEA Director Libby Lyons said: “Stockland’s support of parents and carers with cost-effective, convenient childcare, as well as advanced parental leave and return-to-work policies, is an outstanding example of how companies that take employee wellbeing seriously are rewarded with engaged and loyal staff.”

Davina Rooney, General Manager Sustainability at Stockland said: “I have received a huge amount of support from Stockland over the last nine years, in particular their flexibility around my family’s needs.

“I was promoted by Stockland just after I announced my pregnancy with my first child, while on maternity leave with my second, and recently again as a member of the part-time workforce.”

Stockland has made significant improvements to its parental benefits including by:

• Introducing a new parental leave benefit, Parental Flex Option, in addition to base benefit of 16 weeks paid parental leave, which can be taken either as additional paid leave, superannuation or a lump sum payment on return
• Offering primary carer’s leave within 18 months of birth or adoption to encourage more men/secondary carers to subsequently take primary carers’ leave
• Allowing employees who have taken unpaid parental leave to take any accrued long service leave on their 10 year work anniversary
• Providing an on-site childcare facility, Treehouse, purpose built in 2009 at Stockland’s head office in Sydney
• Providing free child care so parents can participate in dedicated keeping-in-touch events while on leave.

Stockland has also been named as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) by the WGEA for the last three consecutive years and is a member of the Property Male Champions of Change group, an initiative of the Property Council of Australia.

You can read the WGEA case studies at: www.wgea.gov.au/news-and-media/case-studies