Pure Planet has claimed to be the first UK energy company to offer its employees equal parental rights – including leave and pay – for all new parents.
The app-based renewable energy supplier offers new fathers the choice to the same financial rights and 52 weeks leave as previously offered to mothers on maternity leave.
The “progressive policy” is a first for the British energy industry and applies whether the parents have a child by surrogate, adoption or birth.
Steven Day, co-founder of Pure Planet, said: “Genuinely treating people equally is fundamental. But we are only one of a small number of businesses to offer this benefit in the UK. We hope by doing so we can encourage the type of cultural change that is needed when it comes to parental leave. And we’ll continue to explore other ways to improve as an employer.
“Pure Planet is a modern, progressive company which prides itself on providing clean, affordable energy – we want to create a better world for our children. It’s natural that we would want our team to enjoy equal rights when it comes to spending time with their families too.”
The company is also a signatory of the UN’s Global Compact, a voluntary corporate sustainability initiative, as well as being a Living Wage and Disability Confident employer.
Pure Planet’s people director, Rich Roberts, added: ““We believe we are the first energy supplier in Britain to have an equal parental leave policy regardless of gender, sexual orientation or how they become a parent.
“We’re treating parents equally, not only do new fathers get a much fairer deal, every parent does.”
Since 2015 in the UK, most couples in paid employment have had access to shared parental leave and pay following the birth or adoption of their child, allowing both parents to share the time off work. In February this year, Labour MP and shadow education minister, Tracy Brabin called for the government to support the move to extend shared parental leave to more workers in the economy in the hope of closing the gender pay gap.
Building on this, two weeks ago companies and organisations in the UK with more than 250 employees were required to reveal how much they pay their male and female members of staff.