New grandparents who work for the lifestyle company Saga will be given a week of paid time off to celebrate.
The company, which offers services to the over-50s, is the first major company in Britain to formally recognise the role of grandparents in its employment policies. The grandchildren of Saga’s 2,500 UK staff will also have access to its on-site nursery.
Saga said the paid week off reflected its belief in the value of experience in the workplace, alongside a recognition of the role of grandparents to their families and society.
Research by the company found that a quarter of working grandparents are struggling to balance work with childcare commitments as more and more working parents rely on their support.
A recent survey of parents by MoneySuperMarket, a comparison site, found they were spending an average of £7,207 each year on childcare, equal to 28 per cent of the average wage.
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Research by the Children & Society journal found that grandparent involvement is strongly associated with child wellbeing but their role is often ignored in the policy agenda.
David Cameron’s government proposed the idea of paid leave for new grandparents, but the idea was dropped. Parental leave rights were most recently updated in 2015, allowing couples to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay.
Jane Storm, chief people officer at Saga, said: “This is about helping new grandparents celebrate a special moment and play a role in their growing families from day one. It’s also a symbol of how important older workers are to their companies and to society.
“We want to change that mindset and show that age is no barrier to continued professional success. Our customers are mostly over 50 and we want to have more colleagues here that reflect the community we serve. We also think this idea should be a key attraction for retention and recruitment.”
People over 50 are the fastest growing demographic in the UK and according to government data published this year 71 per cent of people aged between 50 and 64 are still in work.
