This blog will cover:

• How Peak PEO designed policies to support every kind of family
• The impact of flexible and remote-first working on parents and carers
• How inclusive benefits like fertility, adoption, and bereavement leave shape belonging
• Why trust-based cultures outperform traditional models of management
• The real impact of a 4-day work week on employee well-being and productivity

When I started my career in HR, I was excited to be able to make a difference to the quality of employees’ lives at work. But I found that companies first priority was rarely employees, and I became disheartened when my attempts to improve benefits or processes fell upon deaf ears. 

Starting at Peak PEO was refreshing, especially now that I’m a mum and I understand how difficult maintaining a work/family/life balance can be. I came into a company that already had flexibility at the heart of their culture, and I was given ample autonomy to bring in some pretty amazing benefits. Thanks to supportive leadership, I believe we work at one of the most family-friendly companies in the world. 

To start with, we have expanded Family Leave. This covers not just mothers, but partners as well. We have policies to support adoptive parents as well as foster parents, who are afforded the same amount of leave as birth parents.

Mothers are fully paid for 6 months, and partners for 4 months. We have leave that both mothers and partners can take before the birth to cover the important antenatal care, or foster/adoption appointments. For mothers who need help getting pregnant, we have

Fertility Leave that can be taken to help reduce the stress that can sometimes impact whether a treatment is successful or not. Things unfortunately don’t always go to plan, so we also have a bereavement leave policy that covers the loss of a child. 

For those who decide that they want a fur family instead – we offer Pawternity Leave! If you adopt a pet, we provide time off for bonding and getting the new family member settled. 

As a company, we are 100% flexible, and I can truly attest to this. If an employee needs to start later or leave earlier to make the school run, no problem. Doctors’ appointments? No problem. Breastfeeding? Yep - we have a policy that allows space and time to either express or feed. We trust that people are getting their work done - our culture is built on the foundation that when people feel genuinely valued and respected, they naturally bring their best selves to work each day without the need for micromanagement. 

Flexibility is made that much easier by being a fully remote company. Being fully remote does mean that sometimes family gets included on meetings! Life happens around us, and we love seeing a little face (or furry paw) pop up during meetings. My cat is renowned at this point for intruding on meetings and often provides some welcome comic relief. Being remote means I don’t spend time stuck in traffic on the way to the office and instead spend it with my family. If my child is sick, I can look after them and still attend to urgent issues. That being said, this is by no means expected as I know the team will chip in for any one of us if we really need to step away completely. 

Last, but definitely not least, is the 4 day work week. This is a game changer. We all use this differently, but as a mum I use this day to take care of chores – food shopping, laundry, baking, and then some quality time on my own to recharge. This leaves our weekends free to do fun things. Weekends before a 4 day work week always felt like I was just trying to catch up, and then it was Sunday and I’d just spend the day dreading Monday. Now, I feel like I have enough time to truly unwind, and I no longer dread coming into work. But that could also be because I work somewhere awesome