Family friendly: generous leave for new mothers and fathers

PostFinance believes it’s really important for mothers and fathers to be able to strike a good balance between working and family life. This is reflected above all by the family-friendly working conditions PostFinance provides: in addition to flexitime, the option to work from home (job permitting) and six weeks holiday, the company also offers new mothers and fathers generous maternity and paternity leave.

How maternity, paternity and parental leave is organized at PostFinance

• Maternity leave: mothers receive full pay for 18 weeks. Compared with the legal minimum, this is an additional four weeks of leave, plus 20 % more salary. Parents also have the option of extending this period of leave on an unpaid basis by up to six weeks.
• Paternity leave: starting 2021, fathers will benefit from four weeks of paternity leave on full pay. This is two weeks more leave and 20 % more salary than the legal minimum. Even before the referendum on paid paternity leave that was held in September 2020, fathers could take two weeks of leave to look after their baby. The two weeks of paternity leave was increased to four weeks at the start of the year. The overall response was very positive, even though fathers do of course realize that parental leave is no holiday. Fathers can also still take up to four weeks of unpaid leave.
• Parental leave: an exception may be made for parents if the mother and father are both working for Swiss Post when the baby is born. They can opt for the “parental leave” model. Instead of regular maternity and paternity leave, this model gives the mother 14 weeks leave plus two weeks holiday, and six weeks for the other parent, which both parents are free to split between them. Parents are also entitled to ten weeks unpaid leave, which they can split between one another.

Outstanding employer

PostFinance was awarded the  The link will open in a new window “Family AND Work”  label as a best practice case for the second time in 2020 for its efforts to help parents enjoy a good work-life balance. This label is awarded to companies that have the structures and offer conditions that allow and promote a balance between work, family and private life. There are countless examples that demonstrate how PostFinance makes all of this a reality, and which can be seen throughout the entire company.