Sodexo’s commitment to enhancing quality of life starts with empowering our employees to thrive and lead their best lives. To us, this starts with providing the leadership, resources, and support necessary to promote a fulfilling work-life balance. For working parents, guardians, and carers, this is seen in our commitment to supporting them to be there for their families—for the big and little moments.
A part of Sodexo’s journey to enhancing work-life balance for its people has been the implementation of organisation-wide gender-neutral parental leave. To deliver adequate support to our employees welcoming new family members, we partner with workplace gender equality experts Grace Papers to advise on and advance our policies and initiatives. Notably, we have extended our fully paid parental leave to 14 weeks—accessible to all caregivers and parents.
In the last calendar year, we were proud to see male carers representing a third of our people accessing parental leave.
We know that gender neutral parental leave policy helps to challenge gender stereotypes, empowering parents to choose or change the primary caregiver role—the same way we know that parental leave is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution and requires flexibility to meet the needs of each family.
Through our partnership with Grace Papers, we enhance this special time of family life for those planning to, currently on, or returning from parental leave. The most significant services taken up by our people are the 1:1 counselling and group Live Coaching events on a variety of topics through Grace Papers. Providing resources and specialists to our people helps them navigate through what can be a challenging transition in their personal and professional lives.
Grace Papers sessions aren’t limited to individuals accessing parental leave and are made widely available throughout the business in the form of resources and training. Delivered at leadership and individual levels, the training promotes awareness that challenges traditional stereotypes around caregiving, family, and careers. By building a culture of understanding and inclusion, our people can make decisions around their families with the assurance that they are supported both in and out of the workplace.
Simply having the policies is one thing; ensuring our employees know about them and are empowered to access them is another.
We believe that building a diverse workforce that is strong and effective is just as much about supporting our people through different stages of their lives and careers, as well as enabling equal participation and respect at work.
Visible and vocal leadership in this space has seen several individuals empowered to access family-friendly support from the organisation. Currently, Sodexo Australia’s senior leadership team is represented by an equitable gender split, where the mothers of this cohort have accessed Grace Papers services to support their career and life aspirations.
“Personally, I found the [Grace Papers] 1:1 coaching I received vital to my return to office and settling back into the swing of things. The confidence I found, even as a leader in the business, to pick up and carry on empowered me to manage my parental duties and leave in a way that respected my priorities and responsibilities,” said Toni Gore, Human Resources Director Sodexo Australia.
This championing isn’t limited to the women in the business. Recently, we have had a senior male leader within the business take prolonged parental leave. During his handover in the lead-up to his leave, and his return 3 months later, he shared his experience not only with his immediate team but the broader Sodexo network.
Removing the stigma around caregivers being predominately female, he is one of many male guardians who are advocates for equitable parental responsibility—enforced and supported by Sodexo’s robust family policies. He shared:
“My partner and I strongly believe both of our careers are equally important, and that parenting responsibilities should be balanced between us. Men can be, and should be, equal parents with shared responsibility,” said Adrian Murray, General Counsel Sodexo Australia.
Sodexo believes that we are only as strong as the people who make up our business. By building a culture where individuals are empowered to succeed in a professional capacity while having the flexibility and choice around raising their family, our people can make the most out of their time with us.
When our people are happy, fulfilled, and proud, they are able to bring their best and whole selves to work—which benefits our business as well as our broader community.
No stranger to parenthood, General Counsel Adrian Murray welcomed his second child while employed full-time at Sodexo Australia—and taking an extended period of parental leave.
“My partner and I strongly believe both of our careers are equally important, and that parenting responsibilities should be balanced between us,” he said.
“The time I took off has made me a little more empathetic to the challenges that caregivers face—whether they are looking after little kids, teenagers, a sick partner, parents or other family members.
“I’ve needed to embrace flexibility in when and how I work to keep it stitched together. I regularly work after the kids go to bed, or on the weekend—it takes a little to get used to it, but it provides the space for me to take the kids to childcare or the doctor for immunisations during standard business hours, and importantly without any guilt.
“I’m grateful to Sodexo for being accommodating of this flexibility, both when my daughter was born, but also now that they are in childcare and going to school —it allows me to make a full contribution as a parent, and I think it makes me a better contributor to our business.”
“In mine, and most cases, there is several months runway before taking parental leave, and this provides a generous runway to put a robust handover plan in place. I think this was a great outcome for Sodexo from a business planning perspective and also for members of my team who were able to grow their experience with different duties”.
“Every single person in our diverse workforce leads rich and expansive lives outside of their time ‘on the clock’ with us, so naturally it is important to make the accommodations and investment in a working environment that empowers them to be as present in their family lives as in their professional. Sodexo is proud to deliver a family-inclusive workplace that supports our people in achieving work-life balance that is vital for personal and professional fulfilment.”
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