Latest / Best of Business / Charlotte Ward: Kiwibank Chief People Officer addresses 'parent penalty' impacting Kiwi households

Transcript

Charlotte Ward: Kiwibank Chief People Officer addresses 'parent penalty' impacting Kiwi households · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Gogeather Doe plus see US.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Nine two nine two is the text numbers. Standard text
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: fees apply. We'll talk to the ComCom after five.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Is the cost of becoming a parent too much to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: bear in the modern age? Apparently seventy percent of us
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: here in New Zealand believe that the financial and childcare
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: pressures on parents are getting harder. This is according to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: new research from Kiwibank, and as a result, Kiwibank has
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: decided to make it easier to be a parent. Working
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: there now, Charlotte Ward is the Keywibank Chief People officer
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: with us. Now, Hey, Charlotte, Hello, how are you?
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, You're more than welcome. Are you surprised by the finding?
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: To be honest, I'm not too surprised. It's really similar
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: to some of the feedback that we were getting from
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: our people as well, when we're asking them what is
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: actually making it hard for them and their work and
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: particularly becoming parents. So and in a lot of ways,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: the research concerns what our people are already telling us.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So what is it that they say is so hard
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: about becoming a parent?
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, one of the things is, and in the research,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: sixty three percent of people agree that there's some sort
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: of penalty in terms of income where people become parents.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: And we know from praises like the motherhood penalty that
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the stactually does just to proportionately affect women. Also, fifty
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: five percent of people in the research agree that there's
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: a penalty in terms of career advancement opportunities when people
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: become parents. And you can see that in some of
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: the other statistics around, you know, women becoming CEO or
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: senior leadership positions as well, because the fact is that
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: priorities change in the situation changes once people become parents.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So, but when we talk about a financial penalty, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: when we talk about a career penalty, we are talking
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: about the parent who chooses to take the paternity or
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: maternity leave right often.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Yes, but I think that that's one of the things
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: that's up for us to change through competies.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Is there another penalty? I mean, because that's the only
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: one I can think of. What's the other career or
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: financial penalty here.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: For parents?
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean there's an immediate penalty when people take
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: time off, but they're not over the course of somebody's
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: career and what person does have to be the primary caregiver.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: You're right in terms of the way that we've set
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: it up at the moment. Then it's those advancement opportunities
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: that we see, but probably some wider impacts on that
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Okay, and so what are you doing to remedy this?
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: So at Chemibank from both through the results of the research,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: but actually through those conversations with our people as well.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: We're introducing some things and something's are big, like increasing
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: the primary care leave. We have baby bonus payments and
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: baby bonus leaves for primary caregivers, also for secondary cares
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: as well, so we're trying to get mums and dads
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: involved as much as possible and importantly continuing key we
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: savor while people are off, but also some of the
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: smaller things too, like flexible return to work and then
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: ensuring that we've got time for appointments for people. There
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: is often lots of time needed for scans, midwife appointments,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: follow ups. And then actually we're looking at parenthood in
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: a bit of a broader way as well. So thinking
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: about fertility treatment, preparation for thurrogacy, egg donation, things like
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: that that can actually have a really big impact into
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: the way people are feeling at that stage of their life.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's noble what you guys are doing.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously six months paternity leavers is great. It's
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: not every business offers that. But this does feel a
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: little just a little bit wingy. I mean some of
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the stuff that like, for example, I'll draw your attention
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: to this, right. The research has shown that more than
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: one third thirty seven percent of kiwis have self selected
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: out of a role or chosen not to apply for
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: a different role because they were a parent or thinking
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: about becoming all that's just being a parent. Like I'm
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: not going to apply for a role as a journalist
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: in Afghanistan? Am I? Because I'm a parent? That's just life?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Why wouldn't it about it?
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: Part of it, part of it. I'm not sure it's winging.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: I probably challenged that a little bit. I mean, don't
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: we have to have this conversation and say, can we
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: do better at a society? Given that we know, how are.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: You going to make Afghanistan better for me?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: As a parent, Charlotte, And there will be some things
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: that are not appropriate, but actually some things we can
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: make smaller doment that would actually make it easier. Right.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: And it might be you know, I'll come in a
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: little bit later after school drop off, but I'll stay
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: for later. Or I'll leave to do a school pickup,
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: but then I'll loll back on later. You know, those
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: are the small You know, flexibility might be one small
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: thing that actually doesn't cost anything. It's just a mindset
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: change rather than a big cost to it.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Fair enough, Charlotte was, thank you.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: We can all do right.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, twenty six weeks maternity leave and maternity leave. What
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: a good idea for everybody. Not that I'm talking to
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: anybody in particular current bosses anyway. That's Charlotte Ward, Kiwibank chief.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna get him so much shouble for that later on. Anyway.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Just I if I disappear next week is because I
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: did that. And that's Charlotte Ward, the Chief People Officer
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: of Kiwi Bank.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talks b listen live on air
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio