IKEA introduces new benefit to help its co-workers with small children and to show them that IKEA appreciates their private life. All co-workers at IKEA Serbia, new dads, can use one-month-paid leave from now on and spend it with their baby as soon as their partner gets back to work.
During the one-time leave, new dads will receive the full salary. This is an additional benefit provided by IKEA Serbia to its co-workers, in addition to what is secured by the law. This decision is part of the broader approach of the IKEA SEE organisation for improving gender equality in the society and showing co-workers that it appreciates them as well-rounded people – from their roles at work, to the ones at home.
„The time we spend with our families is important for healthy work and life balance and makes our co-workers more satisfied. We know that this time is even more important for our co-workers who have small children. We want to help them with their new roles! At the same time, we are aware that in more than 95% cases in Serbia, mums are the ones that take paternal leave, mostly because families decide that this is better for them due to financial reasons. As a company committed to gender equality, through one month paid leave we want to encourage equal involvement of dads in children`s upbringing from the early age”, said Aleksandra Triantafyllidou, HR director, IKEA SEE.
Many co-workers at IKEA Serbia are looking forward to the paid leave and our colleague Milan Stamenković, from the self-service warehouse, recently became father of a boy named Kosta. He says that the most important thing right now for him is to get to know his son. “Today, when the time is the most important resource, we can’t find it as much as we would like to. To all the fathers that are going to use this benefit, I recommend to be there for their children as much as they want”, says Milan, proud to be a part of this change.
IKEA believes that paid leave for dads brings multiple benefits for a more equal society and business as such. In this way IKEA wants to increase understanding between co-workers on the importance of the division of labour at home and facilitate their partners` transition to work, while male co-workers will be even more motivated when they get back to work after one-month leave.