Formalize and enhance the communication on the process of supporting future/young parents when they go on maternity or parental leave, by assigning responsibility to partners as Parent Champions.

Description:
Ensure future / young parents have frequent and close contacts with their managers when scheduling maternity / parental leave in order to raise all questions regarding professional activity and personal matters, clarify potential issues and encourage a smooth come back, through the appointment of Parent Champions (at Director or Partner level) within each department.
Identify relevant contact persons at Director or Partner level (to have a good vision of the organization of activities), who are the "go-to persons" for their team members / future and young parents, and who have the responsibility of organizing the handover of their activity during their absence and answering their questions before, during their absence (maternity and/or parental leave) and upon their return, to optimize the process and ease the comeback.
Clarify the process with all stakeholders (HR Administration, HR Business partners, Team leaders, Parent Champions, DE&I team)
Build a safe culture and environment to support parent/future parent taking parental leave and accompany them in managing their career development .
Reaffirm Deloitte Luxembourg's commitment to helping employees who are parents to balance their personal and professional lives.

Context:
The average age of employees working at Deloitte is 33 years, and statistically, many of our employees are therefore concerned with parenting. That is why Deloitte is committed to supporting employees who are parents in balancing their private and professional lives as best as possible. Ensuring a smoot return to work after a maternity and/or parental leave is not only an HR topic: by involving directors and partners closely in the organization of their team members' leaves, we ensure the right tone from the top is spread in our organization but also our business professionals are fully taking part in the process.

Objectives:
Ensure that all our employees can thrive at Deloitte, both personally and professionally, by serenely considering parental leave opportunities when they become parents, to spend quality time with their families, and continuing to develop their careers over the long term, building loyalty.

Approach:
• Implementation of a formalized process involving HR Administration, HR Business partners, Team leaders, Parent Champions, DE&I team to support our professionals considering taking maternity / parental leave.
• Identification of relevant Directors / Managing Director / Partners within the business lines to endorse the role of dedicated point of contact within the Working Parents Program.
• Organization of training sessions to inform them of their role, explain the process and address their potential questions
• Update of dedicated toolkits (one for future parents / one for Parent Champions) as well as our Intranet DE&I page
• Training session organized for all HR admin and HRBP to present the process in depth and confirm respective expected contribution
• Mandatory training sessions organized for all Managers and above ( because either parents or parents-to-be and/ or working with parents) of one Business Line as a "pilot" (test) to spread the information and address potential questions
• Implementation of monthly Q&A live sessions held by HR admin + WPP representative dedicated to parents and parents to be (invitations sent upon reception of certificates / parental leave requests)

Impact:
• Monthly Q&A sessions organized in 2024 for parents and parents-to-be in 2024
• About 250 people (managers and above) trained during thetesting period were interested and recommended the training
• +/- 40 persons (at Director, Managing Director and Partner level) accepted to endorse the role and were trained to be Parents Champions
• Increased visibility of the updated / renewed People "Deloitte Talent Experience" Intranet page
• Increased number of parental leave requests between 2023 and 2024
• Positive feedback received upon return from long (maternity and /or parental) leaves

https://www.deloitte.com/lu/en/careers/deloitte-life/benefits/working-parents-program.html