SIX - Sustainable Investment Exchange

image of team discussion (for a hr tech)

G8 Education (ASX:GEM) is the largest employer on the ASX that does not provide its employees with employer-funded paid parental leave.
The failure to provide employees with paid parental leave has many negative consequences for employees, their families and the wider community - including contributing to the gender pay gap.
SIX is working with advocacy organisation The Parenthood to ask G8 Education to implement an employer-funded paid parental leave policy.
If G8 Education fails to act on this issue, SIX intends to file a shareholder resolution asking the Board of G8 Education to follow Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) Best Practice Guide in creating a paid parental leave policy. By filing a resolution, G8 will be required to answer to its shareholders at their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and explain why this leave policy doesn’t exist.

As SIX’s ESG Manager, my job includes meeting with big institutional investors (like superannuation funds) who have an important role to play in shareholder activism. They can engage with companies like G8 Education and they vote on resolutions at the company’s AGM.

This blog shares some of the evidence and anecdotes I will take into my discussions with institutional investors, as SIX seeks their support on the campaign for paid parental leave.

How G8 Education is failing women, children and families

G8 Education is one of the largest childcare companies in Australia, with over 430 centres and over 10,000 people employed, the majority of whom are women [1].

Yet they don’t provide their employees with paid parental leave.

A third of the gender pay gap can be attributed to women spending time outside of the workforce doing unpaid care, including looking after newborn children [2].

Women in Australia face a “motherhood penalty”, with earnings reduced by over 55% in the first five years of parenthood [3]. G8 Education is female-dominated and so this issue comes into sharp relief for the women who work for them. However, we note that the lack of paid parental leave in any industry limits the ability for employees of all genders to spend valuable time with their children.

The absence of a paid parental leave policy at G8 Education makes it a laggard against its competitors:

Of the top 100 ASX-listed companies, 92 offer paid parental leave to primary carers, and 89 offer it to both primary and secondary carers.
Of those that offer paid parental leave, the medium amount is 16 weeks for primary carers and 5.9 weeks for secondary carers.
85% of companies that have more than 5000 employees offer paid parental leave.
75% of companies in female-dominated industries offer paid parental leave.

“Childcare centres are struggling to get people to apply for jobs anyway, so it's harder when they can’t support workers with things like good pay and parental leave.” ‍

- Reflections from a current employee and parent, who’s been in the industry 15+ years.

‍

Paid parental leave makes a big difference to employees' lives

There are many positive impacts for employees and their families that come from paid parental leave, including:

Reducing the gender pay gap by supporting women to stay in paid work;
Increasing employees’ job satisfaction, productivity and loyalty;
Assisting parents to spend valuable time caring for their children and families;
Supporting childhood development.

Companies like G8 Education also stand to benefit from providing a paid parental leave policy:

Offering paid parental leave would put G8 Education in line with its competitions, reducing the current risk that it is viewed as a less attractive employer.
Paid parental leave has shown to help attract and retain staff, leading to less turnover and less spend on recruitment and training [4].
Decent work, including flexibility and good considerations, can directly improve company financial performance through improved productivity and motivation [5].

“We take care of so many other people’s children. But when we have our own, no one looks after us! I haven’t returned to the industry since having my child.”

- Reflections from an ex-employee and parent, who’s been in the industry 7+ years.

‍

How campaign supporters can get involved

This campaign is asking for G8 Education to implement an employer-funded paid parental leave policy, as informed by WGEA’s “Developing a Leading Practice Parental Leave Policy” guide for employers [6].

We’d like to see this policy apply to all employees, irrespective of gender.

I have reached out to G8 Education about this issue multiple times, but their investor relations team has remained silent.

So we are preparing to lodge a resolution, bringing this issue into the Boardroom at their AGM, and holding their Board responsible for their lack of vision and care.

People who already own shares in G8 Education can help by signing our agency agreement to join the campaign. Anyone who don’t own shares but want to get involved can support the campaign through signing up to the SIX app.