Continuing our commitment to being a family friendly employer
We’ve improved our neonatal care leave offering to provide greater support to our colleagues as they navigate difficult moments while building a family.
We’re proud to be a family friendly employer. From offering equal parent leave to unlimited paid fertility leave for both partners, we’re committed to supporting our colleagues at work and at home. We work collaboratively with our colleagues, listening to their perspectives and working together on how to make improvements for all colleagues – including for our working families.
Building a family can take many different journeys, and for some families, neonatal care is a part of that journey. Since 2022, we’ve offered four weeks of paid neonatal care leave for our colleagues who need it and we’re now going one step further and providing eligible parents with up to 12 weeks of fully paid leave.
Neonatal care leave allows eligible parents to take additional paid time off work to care for a baby receiving neonatal care. We understand the emotional toll this can have on parents. That’s why our offering is not only gender neutral but applies to all parents who expect to have responsibility for the child’s upbringing – and it’s provided in addition to other parental leave entitlement.
David Evans, Customer Experience Senior Lead at npower Business Solutions, experienced firsthand how our neonatal leave offering can help when his baby needed neonatal care.
“Having had a baby who had to go into neonatal, I will be forever grateful for this benefit. I had the opportunity to support my wife and my son in a way that no other father in that ward did. E.ON is providing fathers the opportunity to be there for their family in ways no other employer is. I will be forever grateful.”
We’re proud to be one of the Sunday Times top 10 best places to work and are committed to creating an inclusive, forward-thinking and purpose-driven workplace. Our enhanced neonatal care leave goes above and beyond the UK Government’s requirement for employers to offer 12 weeks statutory pay for those whose babies require neonatal care.
We want to ensure our colleagues have greater peace of mind and have the space to prioritise their physical and mental health. And by offering up to 12 weeks paid leave, we’re supporting our colleagues during what can be a worrying and stressful time in taking time to rest, bond with their newborn and seek support if needed.
Maybo Chong Brewster, Senior Legal Counsel
"Nobody expects to spend their parental leave in neonatal care with their newborn; it's an exceptionally emotional and overwhelming time so having this support from E.ON helps to remove some of the financial and time concerns that many parents of premature babies will have. E.ON is making a huge difference by being ahead of the curve and it reinforces its reputation as a compassionate employer.“
Our neonatal care leave guidance includes advice for managers supporting colleagues during this time as well as directions to further support such as our confidential colleague helpline and external support available.
Neonatal leave is just one element of our family friendly package of support. We have a wide variety of support in place which includes parenting listening cafes for all working families, paid leave for either partner to attend pregnancy, surrogacy and/or adoption related appointments and special leave to support colleagues experiencing pregnancy loss.
We also promote flexible working where possible, and empower our colleagues to choose the most appropriate arrangement, with the support of their manager, to maximise their performance.
For more information about E.ON’s commitment to its people, visit eonenergy.com/inclusion.