Aviva offers time off for child’s first day at new school

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.

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.