Lion has been certified as a Family Friendly Workplace – the first major brewer in Australia to receive this recognition. Pernod Ricard Winemakers was one of the first Australian businesses to be certified when the initiative was launched by UNICEF last year.
At the time, Pernod Ricard said: "Fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone has access to the same resources, opportunities and rewards is an important part of our commitment to valuing our people."
The certifications endorse Lion and Pernod Ricard as meeting the key standards of being inclusive for families, including providing greater access to flexibility and family leave provisions.
Lion is further developing its Inclusion and Diversity framework, adding new types of paid leave options for its people, and updating its people policies. Lion’s families policy, Families@Lion, will now include 12 weeks of paid leave for those who experience the devastating loss of a child by stillbirth, and ten days of paid leave for women who suffer miscarriage.
Lion will also offer an additional three days of bereavement leave for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Maori and Pasifika team members, and the definition of family will be amended in all Lion’s people policies to include the concept of kinship, recognising the definition of family is more extensive for First Nations and Clan groups.
It will also introduce 10 days of paid leave for victims and family members of victims of domestic and family violence, and 10 days of paid gender affirmation leave.
People & Culture Director Alicia Purtell said Lion was focused on continuous improvement in this space.
“We can’t afford to simply set and forget when it comes to these policies,” Ms Purtell said. “That is why we have taken the opportunity to look holistically at the support we provide our people in addition to our Families@Lion policy and identified a number of areas in which we can bolster our commitment to inclusion and diversity.
“It is absolutely vital that we recognise that having a genuinely inclusive culture depends on us considering the needs of our people from all different perspectives – whether that is their gender, sexuality, culture, religion, or family situation.”
Lion has also amped up its LionFlex with a new approach: offering its people the opportunity to work 30 days per year from anywhere they like.
"We know the last few years have been tough on those with loved ones interstate and overseas. We hope this added flexibility will allow our people to make up for some of the quality time lost with family and friends. Our people might also opt to take up the 30 days to work at another Lion site or office to see team members they haven’t seen for a while," said Lion.
It has proved especially popular for people with family overseas who they have been unable to see for nearly three years.
Jenny Jeong is an Advanced Analytics Data Scientist at Lion who has already returned to Korea to see her family.
She said, “I found COVID really challenging, being single and living away from my family in Korea. To be given the opportunity to work from “home” after three years away from my loved ones has allowed me to reconnect, recharge, and make some really meaningful memories. I didn’t feel rushed, and I could catch up on the quality time that I’d missed with them. It meant so much to me, my family and friends, as we know time cannot be reversed and none of us are getting any younger. Even better, project delivery, meetings and even casual work conversations were totally seamless. Many of my colleagues didn’t even realise I was in Korea, not Melbourne! I couldn't stop thinking about how fortunate I am to be part of an organisation that cares for its people, and lives by its word.”
Lion & Pernod Ricard Winemakers are Category One members of the Drinks Association.