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Protiviti Parental Leave - Gemma Sullivan

Protiviti Parental Leave - Gemma Sullivan

Gemma Sullivan has a full-time job and a full house. With a seven-year-old, five-year-old, and two-year-old boys twins, managing an effective work-life balance could be a challenge. But, working at Protiviti, she’s been able to balance work and home demands and made it work for everyone, including herself.

“I’ve had a really positive experience,” Gemma said. “It’s been different since I’ve taken numerous bouts of maternity leave over a number of years.”

One of the things that made her parental leave so positive, she said, is the way Protiviti handles the entire maternity experience. Besides giving new parents paid time off, the company provides other ways to support parents and help with creating a better work-life balance. For example, the company offers options to extend maternity leave with a half-pay option or additional unpaid leave.

“From going on maternity leave, maintaining contact with the office while you’re on leave, and then coming back into an inclusive environment with a lot of assistance,” she said.

During Gemma’s last leave, she took a full two years off knowing that her job would be waiting for her when she returned. “It was quite an extended period of time off,” she said. “But the ability to be able to do that was invaluable.”

The Keeping in Touch Programme

A lot can happen in two years when you’re away from the job. Protiviti offers a Keeping in Touch programme to ensure employees remain connected to their work family, too. “There are regular touchpoints with the office,” Gemma explained. “You still get invited to social events.”

Protiviti provides continued support for employees on parental leave, including optional activities such as learning and development opportunities, networking events, and regular contact with both peers and leadership.

Protiviti recently enhanced its Keeping in Touch Programme to add up to 10 days of paid opportunities for employees to take part in events while out on maternity leave.

Another innovative programme that’s unique to Protiviti is its reintegration leave, which supports parents as they rejoin the workforce at the end of the leave and helps them to manage the work-life balance.

Reintegration Leave

As part of her reintegration leave, Gemma was able to work shorter days for several weeks. “This lets me give the boys shorter days at daycare for the first six or 12 weeks to get them into the groove,” Gemma explained.

Part of the transition back to work included working from home. The flexibility to be able to work from home and do her hours around her schedule helped smooth the transition for everyone.

Gemma said the entire process went well because company leaders are very aware of what’s going on with their employees. “It made it an easy transition because they are very accommodating as well,” she said. “They understand there’s more to life than the consulting work we do.”

Any Advice for Others Thinking About Working at Protiviti?

“For me, it’s all about communication,” Gemma said. “Both about the work environment and what you’ve got going on at home. When everybody knows what is going on, everybody is very accommodating.”

Protiviti’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts go beyond multicultural initiatives and creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive spaces. The company has built a reputation based on fairness in an inviting work environment for all employees.

Gemma says she knows first-hand that the opportunities at Protiviti are not inhibited by taking maternity leave or being a parent.

“It is a real team and at the end of the day, we all work together,” she said.

Want to hear more from Gemma? Reach out here: [email protected]

For more information about Protiviti, visit: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

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