The new school year can be a nerve-wracking experience for families. This year especially so, following a long period at home, without school, nursery and playgroups. To help colleagues and families across the country, Aviva is offering parents a half-day of leave to help make their child’s first day at a new school a little easier.
Since 2016, Aviva UK employees have been able to take a half-day to drop-off or pick-up their child on the first day at a new school. This leave is in addition to holiday entitlement and is available to parents of children starting a new primary or secondary school.
Since it was first introduced, over 1,000 UK employees have taken Aviva up on the additional leave opportunity.
Felicity Corrigan, who works for Aviva in Norwich said; "I’m relieved that when school starts, my kids will be in the same location for the first time and that homeschooling is over. Lockdown was definitely challenging for us all - a juggling act for me with any of the usual support system removed. Being able to take half a day off for my son’s first day of school is a nice touch.
"It’s another great benefit to working at Aviva. I’m going to take mine at the end of the day so I can be there for pickup and chats about the day."
This leave opportunity exists alongside other family-friendly policies. In November 2017, Aviva introduced a groundbreaking equal parental leave policy, offering 26 weeks of paid leave to UK mums and dads when a new child arrives. The company also introduced a scheme in October 2017 to give greater benefits to employees with caring responsibilities.
Caroline Hardy, who also works for Aviva in Norwich, said; "My son is starting secondary school this week and has ADHD. He’s worked hard to improve his focus, but lockdown set that back a bit, so starting a new school this year will be be a lot for him to take in. Taking half a day of leave is one of the great added benefits of working at Aviva. It was really easy to do – I just spoke to my line manager and logged it on the system. I’m actually taking the other half as holiday so I can drop the kids off and pick them up at the end of the day."
Danny Harmer, Aviva’s Chief People Officer said; "The first day at a new school is one of life’s momentous occasions for children and parents. This year is particularly poignant as families have spent lockdown juggling home schooling with work and children have been away from school since March.
"At Aviva we give our parents time off so that they can be with their children and focus on making that first day a positive, memorable experience."
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Notes to editors:
- We are the UK's leading diversified insurer and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in India and China.
- We help our 19.6 million (as at 31 August 2024) customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
- We have been taking care of people for more than 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2023, we paid £25.6 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
- In 2021, we announced our ambition to become Net Zero by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. We are aiming to have Net Zero carbon emissions from Aviva’s operations and supply chain by 2030. While we are working towards our sustainability ambitions, we recognise that while we have control over Aviva’s operations and influence on our supply chain, when it comes to decarbonising the economy in which we operate and invest, Aviva is one part of a far larger global ecosystem. There are also limits to our ability to influence other organisations and governments. Nevertheless, we remain focused on the task and are committed to playing our part in the collective effort to enable the global transition. Find out more about our climate goals at at www.aviva.com/sustainability/climate and our sustainability ambition and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability.
- Aviva is a Living Wage, Living Pension and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at https://www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people/
- As at 30 June 2024, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £398 billion and our estimated Solvency II shareholder capital surplus as at 30 September 2024 was £7.6 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
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