Employees of the Valencian Supermarket chain Consum will benefit from an extension to their maternity or paternity paid leave which has been extended to six weeks from 1 January 2017, two more than required by law.
A spokesman for the company said that the measures have been introduced in order to “facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life of their employees with this pioneering initiative”.
At present the company has about 13,500 workers, of which more than 3,600 are men, with a mean age of 38 years.
This initiative adds to the 75 measures for workers that Consum has included in its catalog ‘+ 50 Measures to Reconcile’ which can be found in the employment section of its website www.consum.es/gente.
In addition, the Cooperative had already included new policies related to births, which includes allowing one paid day for ‘grandparent’ daytime leave for those with new grandchildren.
Also, for parents of children requiring hospitalization, they may leave work an hour early until the child is discharged. If both parents work for the company they may claim 2 hours a day which they are then able to use however they might wish.
Consum has also implemented a flexible working schedule at its headquarters in Silla, where about 500 people work.
Also, Consum workers belonging to social or charitable organisations may seek collaboration from the Cooperative for social action projects in which they are involved, through its Department of Institutional Relations.
