Parents Network at dunnhumby

dhFamily Mission and Purpose:

dhFamily, formerly known as dh Parents & Carers Network, launched in 2019. Our aim is to support our colleagues at dunnhumby to balance a successful career with their commitments outside of work.

Our Vision: Enabling our people to be at their best by balancing the interdependent demands of family, work and community

dunnhumby Parental Leave Buddies

At dunnhumby we know that going on maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave is a big change that can be daunting and scary – whether it’s for the first time or not! A new baby can lead to significant changes in your home and work life. We recognise that, as an expectant parent, you’re probably experiencing a wide range of emotions as a result of these big changes and our dunnhumby Parental Leave Buddies are there to help.

Our buddies are colleagues with personal experience of taking and returning from parental leave. They are volunteers drawn from across our functions, regions and career stages. We have both male and female buddies and anyone is welcome to participate in the scheme if they feel they can offer support, or would benefit from being supported themselves.

Specifically, a buddy is available to listen and provide advice on topics including:

• Embarking on maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave
• Managing the transition back to work
• Considering a flexible working arrangement
• Juggling crazy schedules of drop offs, pick-ups and parents evenings etc.
• Surviving sleepless nights - we’ve been there, done that, got the bags under our eyes to show for it!

As one of our buddies put it: “The transition to parenthood is huge and is largely about learning ‘on the job’!  Sharing thoughts and ideas about how the transition will work with someone who has been through it makes for a smoother experience and may provide a different perspective on the options available.”

What Family-Friendly Policies have we introduced?

• Pregnancy Loss Policy

Pregnancy loss is devastating and is a type of bereavement where getting the right support at work is crucial. We’re committed to supporting all our people who suffer the loss of a pregnancy, whether it happens directly to them, their partner or a surrogate, regardless of the nature of their loss, and whatever their length of service. Our policy sets out the paid time off our people can take as well as explains the emotional and practical support that we can offer. We’ve also created guidance for managers or those supporting colleagues through a pregnancy loss.

• IVF & Fertility Treatment Policy

While pregnancy and childbirth are highly visible and mostly celebrated, fertility challenges tend to be invisible and silent. Our IVF & Fertility policy is open to everyone at dunnhumby and allows for time off to recover or attend appointments for both the individual and their partner. While we sincerely wish no one would ever have to use these policies, having them in place enables us to have open and sensitive conversations, whilst also equipping managers and colleagues to be empathetic and understanding.

• Shared Parental Leave Policy

At dunnhumby, we’re proud to offer an enhanced Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme in the UK, matching our Shared Parental Leave benefit to that of our Maternity offering. Since launching in 2019 we’ve seen increasing numbers of our people taking up this option, which allows them to spend more time with their young family and enables greater gender equality.

• Flexible Working Policy

Our people work in different ways, depending on where they’re based, their role and personal preferences. To support this flexibility, we offer both Blended Working; a hybrid approach to the working week based on the needs of the role, team, function and/or market, and formal Flexible Working. While both of our approaches support working in different ways, our goal remains the same; we want to offer flexibility to support our employees and our unique culture, without reducing the quality of delivery. We actively promote health and wellness and support flexible hours of operation globally to enable a healthy work/life balance for everyone.

Find out more about working at dunnhumby

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