Kering, Chanel, Burberry: Where fashion stands on parental leave

To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here. Burberry chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci dedicated the fashion house’s recent Autumn/Winter 2021 show to his mother. “Throughout my life, my mother has been this incredible force of nature. As a single parent, she raised me and my eight sisters with unfaltering purpose and pride,” he wrote for the show notes. It was a touching sentiment followed by a significant announcement regarding Burberry’s benefits surrounding parental leave. The company also wrote in the notes that it had updated its global policy to 18 weeks of fully paid parental leave with an option for new parents to work 80 per cent of their normal hours at full pay for an additional four weeks upon their return, as of April 2020. Previous policies varied between countries. In the UK, where most of Burberry’s employees are based, maternity leave was 13 weeks and paternity or partner leave was two weeks. “On top of being the right thing to do, creating an industry-leading policy is hugely beneficial to retaining and attracting top talent,” says Burberry chief people officer Erica Bourne. More progressive parental leave and support policies are becoming more common in fashion, an industry that employs 80 per cent women, according to the UN. While parental leave benefits vary by region, global fashion companies are in a position to put policies in place that benefit employees no matter where they’re located. Kering, which has offered new biological and adoptive mothers 14 weeks’ fully paid leave since 2017, extended the same offer to second partners worldwide in 2020 (they could previously only access five days’ paid leave). And Chanel implemented a global policy of 14 weeks’ fully paid leave for all parents welcoming a child by birth, surrogacy or adoption in 2018. More companies have published these policies in recent years, after a 2019 Mumsnet campaign in the UK found that only 15 FTSE 250 companies did so. The benefits of agenda-setting, global policies are many, experts say. Boston Consulting Group diversity and inclusion partner Christin Owings says they can have a “halo effect” and become “a real differentiator in the war for talent”. Increased retention rates can also save businesses money on hiring and training costs, adds Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) president C. Nicole Mason. “These policies are not nice-to-haves for working women anymore; they are necessities for all families,” she says. Moving beyond statutory rights In its 2019 report on OECD and EU family policies, Unicef ranked countries based on four criteria: the duration of paid leave available to mothers; the duration of paid leave reserved specifically for fathers; the share of children below the age of three in childcare centres; and the share of children between the age of three and compulsory school age in childcare or preschool centres. Sweden, Norway and Iceland topped the list, while Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland occupied the bottom spaces. The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia appeared in the bottom third because of poor access to early childhood education, despite generous maternity leave provisions. The US is the only OECD country without nationwide, statutory, paid maternity leave, paternity leave or parental leave, although some states offer paid parental leave insurance programmes. In March, New Zealand became the first country in the world to offer prospective parents who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth three days of paid leave. Size-inclusive brand Universal Standard has navigated the lack of statutory rights in the US by adopting what co-founder and CEO Polina Veksler — who has had three children since starting the company — calls a “human policy”. Employees regularly bring their children to work and Veksler has breastfed on Zoom calls several times during the pandemic. “It’s about acceptance and being flexible to human needs,” she explains. “If your dog is barking, you might put yourself on mute. If your baby is crying, you might turn off your camera for a minute. We’re all compassionate adults capable of making the right decisions about how to conduct ourselves in the workplace.” Given the global nature of many fashion businesses, experts recommend adopting a one-stroke policy that offers enhanced rights to all employees, regardless of local legislation, gender or how they became parents. At LVMH, the majority of fashion and leather goods workers benefit from maternity and second parent leave that goes beyond statutory rights. All of the Group’s houses have additional policies to support parenting, including places in nurseries and daycares. Prada Group supports parents with 20 per cent of their nursery costs and reimburses school expenses through its employee welfare system. Breastfeeding breaks are granted throughout the day, and parents can adopt late starts and early departures as needed. In industrial production areas with stricter working hours, parents accompanying their children to school or kindergarten are given priority for flexible shifts. “Organisations that go beyond statutory rights to provide enhanced parental leave and pay will be more attractive,” says Claire McCartney, senior policy advisor for resourcing and inclusion at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for HR with 150,000 members worldwide. Smaller businesses without the funds to offer enhanced benefits should take a more personal approach, she continues. “You might be surprised by the small changes that could make a huge difference to parents, without costing the business a lot of money,” she says. “It pays to be proactive.” In its 2020 survey of 3,090 working parents, UK charity Working Families found that in family-friendly workplaces, 59 per cent of employees would be happier, 52 per cent would be more likely to stay with their employer, and 51 per cent would feel more motivated and productive. “It’s one thing to have policies in place and make statements of intent, but brands need to reinforce those policies until they become part of the culture,” says Mason. Brands can foster an open and supportive culture by sharing how different employees — particularly fathers and those less likely to take parental leave — work to accommodate caring responsibilities, offering regular informationals on the available policies, and making space for parents to talk about their needs and feedback ideas for further support, adds McCartney. Supporting parents in the transition back to work and the years after is just as important as offering generous leave packages, says McCartney. Burberry has created guides for leaders to help with this transition, while others have developmental programmes in place. Closing the pay gap “Many organisations are trying to create transparency around the parental pay gap,” says Owings. “It took a decade to catch up with the impact the last financial crisis had on women and minorities in senior management, so there’s a big mountain to climb now.” Kering is aiming to close the gender pay gap by 2025. Chanel claims a robust annual pay equity review process, whereby parental and other leaves do not have a detrimental effect on pay. To guarantee this, it has eliminated the automatic annual bonus proration traditionally associated with leaves, and removed the artificial caps on salary promotion increases, which have historically perpetuated pay gaps based on previous leaves. “It was very important to address the disparities across markets and create the conditions for a consistent, equitable experience, while challenging gender role stereotypes,” says global chief people and organisation officer Claire Isnard. There’s also more work to be done to bring freelancer benefits up to speed, as fashion’s large population of freelancers and third-party partner’s employees may be missing out on generous leave and support policies. Kering’s policies only apply to direct employees, as do Burberry’s, although Bourne says the brand encourages partners to adopt similar provisions and work by its ethical trading code of conduct, global diversity and inclusion policy and universal responsible business principles. “It’s not an easy lift, but consistency across suppliers and partners could transform the industry into a more equitable and inclusive workplace,” says Mason. “Garment workers are more likely to be women and people of colour, as well as part-time workers. Brands could set policy expectations for third parties competing for contracts.” “In the future, a lot of talent will be freelance or contractors,” says Owings. “The professional services freelancing space has attracted a lot of young families because of the flexibility, but that often comes with lower pay and less benefits. There’s a lot of political pressure to move this conversation forward and rethink who is considered an employee.” There is precedent for change in other industries: the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers are not self-employed in February, and, also in the UK, Fashion Roundtable recently announced a fashion freelancer union with Bectu in a bid to secure workers’ rights as they have done in film and television. After a year of instability that saw the luxury sector cut upwards of 40,000 jobs, change is much needed. “Organisations need to make sure the pandemic doesn’t leave a legacy of working parents being disadvantaged,” says McCartney. Correction: This story has been updated to remove incorrect reference in second paragraph to Burberry's updated parental leave policy plans from "would be updating" in 2021, to "implemented" in April 2020. (7/6/2021) Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com. 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