Willemstad, Curaçao (August, 2019) – Local Telecommunications providers Flow and UTS have unveiled a ground-breaking parental leave policy for all full-time staff.
Officially introduced on June 1st, employees of Flow and UTS can now look forward to benefiting from paid maternity leave of sixteen weeks and paid paternity leave of eight weeks. In Curaçao, fathers only received 5 days of parental leave after the birth of their child(ren), meaning that this is a significant step in contributing to the family bonding, that special time for our employees and their families. Expectant mothers now have 2 additional weeks to their entitled 14 weeks.
The new policy, which was developed by parent company Liberty Latin America, will provide paid leave to employees following the birth of a child.
“Evolving our parental leave policy, quite simply, is the right thing to do,” said Ms. Kerry Scott, Chief People Officer, Liberty Latin America. “We recognize that diversity drives success, and family dynamics and structures have changed. Our new policy demonstrates our commitment to a culture of diversity and inclusion and one that puts our people at the heart of our success.”
Nicolas Collette, Southern Caribbean VP for Cable and Wireless, welcomed the new policy and described it as a seminal moment for the company. “As a business leader, I’m very proud that we’ve introduced such an innovative and progressive policy. As a father myself, I know the value of creating special moments with your new-born, so I’m proud to be a part of an organization that truly values its people,” he said.
Mr. Collette continued: “The same way we create moments that matter for our customers each day, we also want our team members to enjoy the special moments in their lives and there’s nothing more special than the birth of a child. It is initiatives such as these that demonstrate our unique company culture. There is an abundance of research that illustrates how beneficial paid parental leave can be not just for parents, but also for children, the wider community and companies.”
Employees of Flow and UTS are already enjoying the benefits of this new policy. Mr. Roderick Martina who is the first father within the companies to benefit from the initiative indicates: “I am very happy with the policy change from 5 days to 8 weeks. As a father I am very excited to be able to spend more time with my baby girl Thazjëana.”
