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At Grant Thornton, our purpose is to care for our people, clients and communities and support them to thrive. We have committed to a promise around each of those pillars, which forms the “GT Way”.
Our GT Way People Promise is a commitment to ensure every person at Grant Thornton:
We know that every one of our team members is part of a family, and a very large proportion of our team members are parents or caregivers. Managing the juggle between responsibilities at home and at work is one of the most challenging elements of the modern working paradigm, and we recognise that helping our people to support and care for their families will help them thrive in life and work.
Grant Thornton Australia introduced its “Flex Appeal” policy in 2016, which enabled every team member in any role within the firm to work flexibly. It was an industry leading approach to work at the time and we invested heavily in the technology and infrastructure to allow our people to work from anywhere with full access to our systems and the information they needed to be productive and effective. This positioned us well for the sudden shift to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and led us seamlessly into our hybrid working model (between the office, home and our clients’ workplaces).
We have found that the combination of our Flex Appeal policy and support for hybrid working has normalised the concept of working flexibly across our firm, and encouraged more team members to initiate conversations about how flexible working practices at Grant Thornton can help them to thrive at work and at home.
Our people utilise Flex Appeal to focus on their families, pursue sporting careers, indulge individual passions or fulfil philanthropic aspirations. During the COVID-19 pandemic we have accommodated multiple team members working from different states for extended periods to be closer to their families. We have enabled our people to choose to continue working from home beyond government mandated periods, as they have told us via repeated surveys how much they appreciate the flexibility to work different hours and in different locations. Enabling our team members to utilise flexibility empowers them to manage everything they have going on in their lives – whether it is supervising tradies at home, doing school and child care drop-offs and pick-ups, taking part in a community event or simply building in time for exercise.
We know that a diverse, engaged workforce and a positive, inclusive workplace culture enhances innovation and productivity, and is critical to our ability to achieve our strategic aspirations.
Being a family inclusive organisation is an important part of our commitment to enable our people to thrive in life and work. By empowering our parents and caregivers to manage their obligations, follow their passions and be there for life’s important moments – all while growing their careers, we can ensure we have access to the best talent.
Nicole & Dean Lawrence
Nicole Lawrence is a Senior Manager in Audit & Assurance, and Dean Lawrence is a Manager in Financial Advisory – both based in Grant Thornton’s Brisbane office. Nicole and Dean welcomed baby William into their family in February 2021, and baby Jake in August 2022.
Grant Thornton’s parental leave policy allows for equal access to 26 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary caregiver – so when William arrived, Nicole took 26 weeks of parental leave as the primary caregiver, and when she returned to work full time when William was 6 months old, Dean then switched into the primary caregiver role, also taking 6 months parental leave for their first born. Nicole and Dean plan to take the same parental leave for Jake.
Sharing the care giving for William, and now Jake, in the first year of their lives is important for Nicole and Dean to equally share the “mental load” associated with being the primary caregiver, and also for the boys to form equal connections with both parents.
“We love that Grant Thornton provides equal opportunities for parents to share the primary caregiving role and a flexible working environment to facilitate good work-life integration,” said Nicole.
Nicole and Dean returned to work part-time, 4 days a week once William turned one. They have both utilised flexibility to work from home, do half days in the office, or leave early some days and catch up in the evenings. Flexible work and family friendly practices are part of the “Grant Thornton Way”, and they are confident their family will continue to flourish once Jake turns one, and they both return to work.
At Grant Thornton, we want our people to bring their whole selves to work. To enable this, we aim to support our people on every step of their journey with us: as a team member, a parent and a caregiver, or as a leader of parents and caregivers. Our people promise means we are committed to supporting our people to thrive, and that makes supporting and enabling team members to care for their loved ones while pursuing their careers and their passions… an important part of the “GT Way”. Of course our families are important to us, so they are important to our firm. Ensuring we provide a family friendly workplace is not an option, it is our responsibility and as CEO I see this as my responsibility. If our firm wasn’t family friendly then I wouldn’t be working here and I wouldn’t recommend it to others! I am proud our firm is among a responsible group of employers leading the way.
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