You may remember us talking about how Diversity and Inclusion was a key focus at the Global Leadership forum in Orlando last year. Well, at this forum, one of our colleagues, Snowie, a bar tender from QM2, raised a question about our Maternity and Paternity policies. This not only prompted an internal review here at CUK, but a cross-brand working group was formed to review this further across the whole of the Corporation!
Keep an eye out for our Q2 fleet videos where we’ll be catching up with Snowie about her experience.
We’re pleased to announce that from today (1 June) our Fleet Pregnancy and Maternity policy will be updated with a number of positive changes to better support our colleagues during and after a pregnancy. Here are a few of the changes we have made:
- Firstly we’re making the policy simpler, clearer and sound more friendly so that it’s easier to understand any entitlements to leave and pay.
- Antenatal care in port can be expensive and to make sure our colleagues don’t have to worry about this, we’ll pay the costs any antenatal care that is recommended by the Ship’s Doctor while they’re onboard.
- We’re also extending the right to work, following maternity leave, to five years depending on how much time is taken off.
- We’ve produced a guide on having a healthy pregnancy to help our colleagues make the best choices.
- We will also be asking our Manning Agents to keep in contact with our ship’s company when they return to their home country, after the birth and then every 6 months until the end of their maternity leave.
This all started with one of our colleagues’ feedback so don’t forget if you have an idea about how to improve things speak to your line manager or HRM.