Standard Life

Corporate profile

• Financial services sector
• 10,000 employees in the UK

Work-life policies

• Flexitime
• Part-time/reduced hours
• Enhanced rate of maternity pay
• 5 days paid paternity leave
• Career breaks 1-5 years
• Paid adoptive leave

Through its staff policies and procedures, Standard Life aims to enable staff to balance their working and personal lives in as flexible a way as possible. Whilst we realise that we still have some way to go towards achieving this aim, we have recently put in place a suite of family-friendly leave policies with this goal in mind.

The provisions offered to employees do not differentiate between permanent and direct temporary members of staff. Standard Life believes that benefits that help staff to fulfil their caring and other responsibilities should not be restricted on the basis of employment status.

In addition, the Company offers paid leave to the prime carer of an adopted child (this applies to both male and female employees). Employees are entitles 18 or 29 weeks leave and pay for 4 or 8 weeks, dependent on length of service. Female staff are entitled to a Company enhanced rate of maternity pay; fathers are offered 5 days paid paternity leave or up to 10 days in the case of a multiple birth. They can take this leave at any time up to the eighth week after the birth or adoption of the child.

Staff with 3 or more years service can take a career break of between one and five years to enable them to undertake significant or personal commitments.

Flexitime working is also offered to the majority of our staff. Prospective and current employees are increasingly looking for flexibility in working patterns to help them to achieve a healthy work/life balance. The opportunity to take leave for domestic reasons helps to reduce stress on staff who need to balance work and life responsibilities. Less stress in turn leads to a more productive workforce.

These policies have been successful because employees are demanding more flexible working arrangements. Companies who do not respond to these demands risk losing or not recruiting the best employees. The success of the policy comes from 2 sources - employees are demanding flexibility and our customers are pushing for a 24 hour service. Flexibility therefore fulfils both staff and business needs.

By offering a variety of flexible leave policies, we aim to become an employer of choice within an ever more competitive labour market. These policies are designed to attract and retain the best employees available. A growing number of employees (both male and female) have caring responsibilities. This is partly due to demographic changes where staff may have older relatives to care for as well as children.