At Bunnings, our team members are the heart of the business, and providing a safe and inclusive workplace is our priority. Our youngest team member is 14 years old and our oldest is 91, and we want to support our people with policies and procedures as they develop a career that spans across all life stages.
To attract and retain the best talent it’s important for us to create work life enrichment. Supporting our team during their parenting years helps balance family and work/life integration, creating a culture where our people thrive at work.
Bunnings provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both parents, regardless of gender, and paid superannuation on unpaid parental leave. If both parents work for Bunnings, they can each access 12 weeks paid leave. Recognising the time that our team members need to grieve and recover in the event of a miscarriage before 20 weeks pregnancy, we recently increased bereavement leave to 10 days for either parent. For a loss past 20 weeks pregnancy, full parental leave provisions are available.
Bunning also introduced up to two weeks emergency unpaid foster care leave a year for registered foster carers, and care for children in emergency situations. This leave allows the team member to take on caring responsibilities and adjust their rosters at short notice. Working with an external organisation, Bunnings created programs to support team members going on parental leave, during parental leave and support returning to the workplace, as well as equivalent programs for leaders.
In the past 12 months, more than 400 men have taken paid parental leave across the organisation, with over 140 taking on the primary carer’s role. This is an increase on previous years.
It highlights the range of initiatives we have in place, and the family friendly culture helps promote Bunnings as a great place to work to prospective team members. It also reinforces our commitment to our team, supporting them to be there for their families for all the important moments.
Brendan has been with Bunnings for over 13 years. He started as a team member and is now a Store Manager, following in his father’s footsteps, who also worked for Bunnings for many years. Brendan first heard about the opportunity of taking primary carer’s leave through another Bunnings leader who was applying for himself.
Brendan said “I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to spend time as my son’s primary carer when my wife went back to work. My Area Manager was fully supportive, and when I shared my decision with other leaders in our region, many of them said they’d wished they had done the same when their children were born. My broader team was very supportive, and it’s opened up the conversation for others to take the leave when they need to.
I took 10 weeks paid primary carer’s leave, taking on all the responsibility at home. I looked after meal planning, cleaning, grocery shopping, and all the other chores a newborn brings! I felt completely comfortable disconnecting from work, which also gave the leader relieving my role the opportunity to take on the full responsibility of her secondment.
Having this time off has created a strong bond with my son that continues today, and I fondly remember our trips to the zoo and Timezone. I now have a better understanding of what it’s like to be a primary carer and appreciate what my wife went through, especially on days when our son was teething or not taking his naps. I’ve come back to work as a better, more empathetic leader and am so appreciative of the quality time I spent with my son.”
“We’re pleased that Bunnings has been recognised as a Family Inclusive Workplace, fostering a culture that appreciates that our team often have caring responsibilities. We want to support our team to thrive in an environment where their career and family aspirations align.”
