Unum UK elevates employee experience by enhancing leave for carers

Leading employee benefits provider Unum UK has launched its new enhanced carer’s leave policy, offering all staff with caring responsibilities up to 5 days of paid leave per year.

All 850+ Unum employees now have access to the company’s enhanced offering, irrespective of how long they have been working for the business. Alongside an already extensive employee benefits package, the 5 days can be taken flexibly, individually or as half days, helping employees to fulfil both their work and caring responsibilities and promoting a healthier work/life balance.

Following the introduction of the Carer’s Leave Bill to Parliament in June 2022, Carers UK urged the government to continue to support the proposed legislation by publishing the State of Caring survey 2022. This revealed:

• 75% of carers in employment said they worry about juggling work and care
• 30% say their mental health was bad or very bad
• 29% say they felt lonely often or always
• 27% say they were struggling to make ends meet.¹

Between this legislation and the above findings, it’s clear that supporting employees with caring responsibilities is the right thing to do.

Jane Hulme, HR Director at Unum UK commented:

“The challenges and worries of caring lead to around 600 people leaving the UK workforce every day as they can no longer maintain the balance between their job and caring responsibilities.² It’s vital that employers do as much as they can to either provide the support carers need both professionally and personally — or at least signpost towards it — helping more people to remain at work. 

“As the Carer’s Leave Act comes into force later this year, we’re proud to introduce this proactive approach, supporting the caregivers in our workforce with a combination of paid leave and flexible working options. This is all alongside our wider benefits package, which includes an Employee Assistance Programme with a 24/7 helpline offering a wide range of support, including support for childcare and eldercare.

“Overall, this should allow employees more time to focus on those they care for. In addition, it will hopefully remove some of the worries and pressures we know unpaid carers face. We believe our enhanced policy will also play an important role in enabling our staff to bring their whole selves to work, whilst contributing to a workplace culture that prioritises both health and happiness.”

^{1  Carers UK, State of Caring 2022. A snapshot of unpaid care in the UK, November 2022
2  Carers UK, Key facts and figures about caring}