Lucie Rychla
January 14th, 2016

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Certainly, maternity leave is dwindling (photo: Pixabay)

The Maersk Group has announced a new global maternity leave scheme that allows female employees to take at least 18 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave, reports BT.

The policy will kick off on April 4 and is expected to affect about 500 women every year – particularly in countries where there are no provisions for paid maternity leave.

A ‘return to work’ policy
The shipping and energy conglomerate has also introduced a ‘return to work’ scheme that gives its female employees the option of working 20 percent less whilst receiving a full salary for the first six months after returning from maternity leave.

This policy will only apply to employees working on the mainland and not to those operating the company’s ships.

Increasing retention rate
According to Maersk, the initiative will improve the maternity conditions of employees in at least 51 of the 130 countries where the company operates.

The scheme is aimed at increasing the retention rate of female employees with children from the current 70 percent to 90 percent.

Men get a week off
Meanwhile, male employees at Maersk will be able to take a week of fully-paid paternity leave.

The company allows for local variations and offers longer parental leave to the primary care-taker regardless of whether it’s a woman or a man.