Grandparental leave, also known as grandternity leave, is becoming more popular in the context of work benefits and family leave regulations. This kind of leave, which is similar to paternity or maternity leave, has become more since the pandemic. It is intended primarily to provide older workers with paid time off to support and spend quality time with their new grandchildren. The value of assisting employees at different periods of their lives is being increasingly recognised in the corporate sector, which is reflected in this new trend.
The implementation of grandternity leave demonstrates how firms recognise that enhancing employee welfare results in a more contented and effective workforce. In addition, the growing popularity of this leave policy highlights the intense competition among businesses to find and keep top talent in a climate of talent and skills shortages, low retention rates and high employment levels.
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What Is Grandternity Leave?
Grandternity leave gives grandparents a set amount of paid time off to let them spend time with their grandchildren, just like maternity and paternity leaves do for parents of newborns.
Even while it’s still uncommon, some businesses provide the perk in the belief that it will help them recruit and keep older staff for longer. Because the labour market is still tight and employers don’t want to lose the historical, institutional knowledge, or work ethic a senior worker can bring to the job, the Wall Street Journal writes that employers are more interested in recruiting older workers than they were in the past.
Further, as discussed by LinkedIn, businesses including Cisco, Mercer, and Saga offer new grandparents vacation that lasts from a few days to a few weeks. The unusual benefit resulted from corporations reevaluating worker care to increase retention within a tight labour market.
The concept has divided opinion in Europe. Many applaud the benefit that enables grandparents to assist new parents during a hard period and point out that Denmark already provides “senior days,” which permits employees over 62 to take a paid day off each month. Others are dubious, arguing that combating age discrimination is a more pressing issue and highlighting the fact that grandparents do not bear the same obligations as parents.
Should It Become Common Practice?
The pandemic and the Great Resignation, in which many older workers reevaluated their objectives and left their professional professions, both contributed to the conception of grandternity leave.
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In the past, older employees were thought to be less capable than younger workers. This incentive might be appealing to both younger and older workers, thus explaining why some employees stay with a company for a longer period of time while the average worker stays in employment longer.
The adoption of grandternity leave shows that firms recognise the connection between fostering employee well-being and a more contented and effective workforce. The fierce battle organisations have to recruit and keep top personnel in the face of talent scarcity, low retention rates, and high employment levels are also highlighted by the industry’s rising popularity.
Grandternity leave is still unusual, but some businesses see it as a worthwhile inducement to attract and keep older workers because of their special skills and work ethics. Grandparental leave presents a potential solution that appeals to both younger and older employees, resulting in longer tenures and more job satisfaction, as the pandemic and the Great Resignation caused workforce reevaluations.