JSE’s Gender-Neutral Parental Leave Policy

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Africa’s largest stock exchange, the JSE, has introduced a gender-neutral parental leave policy as a progressive move towards gender equality. This policy affords both mothers and fathers the benefit of a four-month paid parental leave.

The JSE’s Human Resources Director, Donald Khumalo said: “Our society is ever-evolving and companies should adapt to these changes.” He was convinced that the new policy’s benefits will far outweigh it’s costs, and that it will foster a “healthy working environment that drives increased employee engagement and high-performing teams, both of which are perfect ingredients for retaining and attracting new talent” . He also added that the move is in line with 17 UN Sustainability GoalsĀ “which call for companies to do away with policies that perpetuate gender bias and stereotyping”.

The policy-shift is similar in nature to that of Netflix who also discarded the distinction between gender identities when affording its employees parental leave. This progressive way of thinking sets a precedent for others in the corporate sphere, and the JSE will be the pioneers of this revolution in Africa. The timing is well placed as it coincides with the recent changes to SA Labour Legislation in January 2020 regarding the Parental Leave benefit which was amended to afford 10 consecutive paid days of leave to parents.

This gender-neutral parental leave policy benefits JSE employees, as Khumalo highlighted that employees have the option to take their four consecutive month’s leave with their partners, or stagger it, allowing the first partner to take the initial fours months and the second partner to be home for the next four months. “This enables a child to have eight months of uninterrupted parental care”.

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