At Human Made (“We”) we understand that families need flexibility (even before any children arrive). We want to support you with that flexibility and we’ve pulled together our parental policies (maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave) so that you can easily navigate your way around them.
This policy lays out the Human Made enhanced new parent leave (ENPL) that we offer to all humans who have been with the company for more than 52 weeks when the pregnancy has reached 12 weeks or that have been working here for more than 52 weeks by the end of the week in which you’re notified that you’ve been matched with a child for adoption. The ENPL does not affect your statutory entitlement. You can find details on these below:
- UK Employee Statutory rights
- Australian Employee Statutory rights
- United States Family & Medical Leave
Important Considerations
It’s worth flagging that:
- The policies below (including any Human Made extras outlined within them) aren’t contractual unless we’ve specifically said so;
- Statutory entitlement varies depending on which country’s rules you are following. You are responsible for identifying your statutory benefits and reporting them to the People Ops team. People Ops will support this where needed; and
- The amounts you receive will be inclusive of any statutory or government parental pay if applicable. Your salary payments will be adjusted taking into account statutory payments where applicable to ensure you receive the correct amounts. For example:
- As a UK employee, you will receive your salary for the periods stated below. Human Made will claim back your statutory payments directly from the government
- If you are a contractor, and your government provides you with $800 monthly parental pay, you will claim that directly and Human Made will top up your monthly income so that you receive the correct amount as outlined below
Human Made Enhanced New Parent Leave
Human Made offers enhanced new parent leave (ENPL) which applies to parents of new babies, including birth and adoptive. The table below shows how much leave and pay you will be entitled to receive:
| Time at Company at 12 weeks of pregnancy/date placement for adoption is confirmed | Primary Caregiver – Pay | Primary Caregiver – Leave | Secondary Caregiver – Pay | Secondary Caregiver – Leave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-12 months | Statutory entitlement | Up to 52 weeks leave | Statutory entitlement | Statutory entitlement and People Ops Discretion |
| Over 12 months – 36 months | 12 weeks’ full basic pay during the first 12 weeks. Followed by 12 weeks on half pay. Remainder statutory | Up to 52 weeks leave | 6 Weeks full basic pay | 6 weeks and People Ops Discretion |
| >36 months | 26 Weeks’ full basic pay followed by 13 weeks statutory pay | Up to 52 weeks leave | 6 Weeks full basic pay followed by 6 Weeks at half basic pay | Up to 26 weeks |
Some definitions:
- The primary caregiver is the person whose main responsibility is looking after the child from birth. They will have given up work to carry out their duties.
- The secondary caregiver is the person who takes on a supporting role in caregiving responsibilities. If a human’s partner is not working and is looking after the baby then that human is considered to be the secondary caregiver.
- Time at Company is calculated from the start date as stated within your contract.
Guidelines on Enhanced New Parent Leave
- Payment of enhanced new parent pay (ENPP) is conditional upon you having completed 52 weeks’ continuous service at the beginning of the 12th week of pregnancy, or at the week in which any placement for adoption is confirmed;
- If both parents are Human Made employees you will be asked to designate a primary and secondary caregiver.
- Once designated, primary and secondary caregiver designation cannot be switched around. For example, if you are the secondary caregiver at week 6 of parental leave, you will be considered the secondary caregiver for the remainder of the leave regardless of any shared parental leave or other statutory entitlements.
- Adoption leave and pay: Once the placement date for adoption is confirmed, you will be eligible to receive ENPL. This must be started on the date the child starts living with you or up to two weeks before (for local adoptions), or up to 28 days before (for international adoptions). ENPL is available for parents of pre-school age children. If the child you are adopting is of school age you will still be entitled to your local statutory entitlements and additional leave can be discussed and agreed with People Ops.
- ENPL must be taken in one continuous period. This does not affect any statutory rights you may have.
- If we’re supporting you with a generous package to raise your family then we expect the parent taking leave to be fully devoted to this role, so whether you’re the mother, father or co-parent etc that qualifies for this enhanced pay we’d like you to confirm to us in writing that you’re dedicating this time to being the primary or secondary carer of your child. If we later discover that you’re in breach we reserve the right to recover enhanced parental leave back from you in full.
- There is no entitlement to any additional pay or leave in the event of multiple births or consecutive pregnancies where you do not return to work.
- We will confirm the details relating to the arrangements for ENPP in writing. Please note that where you are entitled to receive ENPP in accordance with the terms of this policy, you will be asked to sign an ENPP agreement. If you decide that you do not wish to return to work at the end of your parental leave, you must still give us proper notice of termination of your employment in accordance with your contract of employment.
- You must confirm in writing, before starting your ENPL, that you intend to return to work once this leave ends and for a period of time that is at least equivalent to the period of your ENPL. For example if you’ve taken six months ENPL then in order to avoid us recovering any ENPP from you, you must return to work for a minimum period of six months excluding holidays, if you take ten months ENPL then you’ll need to return to work for a minimum period of ten months excluding holidays and so on.
- If you decide not to return to work for this minimum period or change your mind once you’ve returned, you must repay any ENPP (but not statutory entitlements) in accordance with the Enhanced Pay Repayment Terms below.
- The amounts you receive will be inclusive of any Statutory Pay if applicable. Any statutory entitlement that is paid directly to you may be deducted from your monthly salary entitlement where relevant (outside the UK).
Booking Your Leave – Pregnancy Specific
Firstly please inform us as soon as possible that you or your partner are pregnant. This is important as there may be health and safety considerations and we need to carry out a risk assessment.
By the end of the fifteenth week before the week you (or your partner) expect to give birth you should have told us the week in which your doctor or midwife expects you to give birth (in the UK this is usually contained in a form called a MATB1).
We would also ask that you let us know by this time when you want your parental leave to begin, although we will try our best to be flexible around Antenatal appointments/ adoption appointments for example.
Your new parent leave will normally start on the date you have selected. However, it may start earlier if you or your partner give birth before then. If you are pregnant and are absent for a pregnancy-related reason in the last four weeks before your expected week of childbirth then it may also start early. In either of those cases, new parent leave will start on the following day. Therefore you must tell us as soon as possible if you are absent because of a pregnancy-related reason.
In most countries, the law says that we cannot allow you to work during the two weeks following childbirth.
Shortly before your leave is due to start we will discuss with you the arrangements for covering your work and the opportunities for you to remain in contact, should you wish to do so, during your leave.
Unless you request otherwise, you will remain on circulation lists for internal news, job vacancies, training and work-related social events.
During New Parent Leave
You will still accrue holiday as if you were working. Talk to your manager before you start your ENPL about taking your holidays either before or at the end of your ENPL period. If your parental leave spans two holiday years or you have unused holiday at the end of the year you took parental leave, you will be entitled to carry over 7 days holiday into the next calendar year or the statutory minimum holiday roll over (based on your employment status and locale), whichever is greater.
For up to 26 weeks of parental leave, you will continue to receive pension contributions as if you were working your normal hours.
Keeping In Touch Days
We may make reasonable contact with you from time to time during your leave although we will keep this to a minimum. Do please feel free to keep in touch though; for example you are welcome to work on ‘keeping in touch days’ during your time off.
With your manager’s agreement you can take up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KIT) days during your Maternity/Adoption ENPL, which let you work without losing your entitlement to ENPP or SMP. You can take up to 20 ‘Shared Parental Leave in Touch’ (SPLIT) days during your Shared Parental Leave. There’s no obligation on you to take KIT days during your leave.
On a KIT day you’ll get paid your full basic pay for the hours you work. If you’re only in receipt of statutory entitlement, your pay will be ‘topped up’ to your normal hourly rate. If you attend a training day for half a day this will count as one KIT day and you’ll be paid a normal day’s pay.
Appointments
You may take paid leave for appointments related to pregnancy or adoption. Normally these will take less than half a day so don’t need to be booked off in Bob. Please make sure you inform your team of any gaps in your availability as a result of appointments including adoption appointments.
IVF
If you need time to attend medical appointments to undergo any investigations or treatment or support your partner we’ll provide you with a reasonable amount of paid time off. Please let your manager know as early as you can so that they can offer you the correct support.
Following implantation, you are regarded as being pregnant. If the implantation is successful normal maternity rights will apply.
Miscarriage
If you miscarry, we encourage you to take time off to fully recover, both physically and emotionally. We will do whatever we can to support you throughout this period. Talk to your manager or Tom Chute to discuss leave arrangements. We may also be able to provide counselling or other support to help during this period.
Rights for bereaved parents
In the event of a stillbirth after 24 weeks, your maternity leave will start the day after the birth (if it had not already started). Please speak to Tom Chute to discuss arrangements for this period. You will be eligible for statutory maternity leave where eligible. Human Made will continue to pay ENPP as outlined above for a minimum of eight weeks (this includes two weeks bereavement leave).
Your rights will differ if you are taking adoption leave or shared parental leave, so please speak to your manager to see how we can support.
Returning to Work
You must give us at least 8 weeks’ notice if you want to change your return to work date.
Enhanced Pay Repayment Terms
This section forms part of your contractual terms with us and you will receive an Enhanced New Parent Leave Agreement letter from People Operations confirming any variations of these terms. If you have received ENPP and either resign or are dismissed from your role, following your ENPL, we’ll reserve the right to claim from you a proportion of ENPP received in accordance with our ENPP agreement. This does not include any Statutory Pay.
These repayment terms apply to any enhanced pay received for ENPL (including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave) and only apply if you have taken more than 12 weeks’ leave and received more than 12 weeks’ of ENPP.
| Period employee returns to work from enhanced new parent leave prior to leaving date. | Repayment amount of enhanced pay |
|---|---|
| less than 3 months | 100% of enhanced pay excluding any Statutory Pay |
| 3 months plus up to 6 months | 75% of enhanced pay excluding any Statutory Pay |
| 6 months plus to 9 months | 50% of enhanced pay excluding any Statutory Pay |
| 9 months plus to 12 months | 25% of enhanced pay excluding any Statutory Pay |
| 12 months plus | No recovery of enhanced pay |
In the event of termination due to redundancy, there would be no requirement to repay any enhanced pay except following an application for voluntary redundancy. Human Made may waive this at our discretion.
Please note that where an employee leaves our employment without returning from maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave, the company reserves the right to reclaim 100% of any enhanced pay paid by us to the employee – this does not include any Statutory Pay.