Kraft Heinz people and performance director for Northern Europe, Alessandra de Dreuille—a former marketer for the CPG giant herself—is spearheading the changes.
Over the last 18 months, Kraft Heinz has put in place six months of paid maternity leave on top of the U.K. government’s mandatory 12 weeks. Secondary caregivers now receive three months of paid leave.
I apply a marketing lens to how I think about HR.
Alessandra de Dreuille, Kraft Heinz
Working parents at the condiment giant can also divide 50 weeks’ leave between them following birth, placement or adoption, too. All parents can take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave before their child’s 18th birthday without their role being impacted. Five paid days each year are also offered to all caregivers to deal with an emergency involving a dependent.
This approach to policy feeds into Heinz’s broader diversity target to reach gender parity across its management by 2025. In the U.K., it’s currently at 49%, having risen up from the “lower 30% range” a few years prior.
“I apply a marketing lens to how I think about people [management],” said de Dreuille. “I now see the teams that work for us as my ‘customers.’” She said the way forward for others in the sector was to apply this same thinking to their own family and flexible working policies.
The next step for Heinz is to think about extras for new parents and carers, including an idea being floated around paying for sleep consultants.
“Sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of mental health issues that can arise after returning to work. It can be disruptive to [staff],” she said. “This is one of the things we’re looking at as we look to improve what we can offer caregivers.”
The agency angle
It’s not just brands putting in the legwork to retain and attract talented people who also happen to be caregivers. Agencies are making changes of their own too.
Jen Berry, chief executive at Publicis-owned Digitas U.K., said it was important to ensure the right support was baked into a company’s infrastructure as staff went through different phases of life from fertility to pregnancy, surrogacy to adoption and beyond.
In 2021, Publicis Groupe U.K. launched new policies that increased its previous maternity policy benefits from 16 weeks at full pay to 26 weeks, and paternity benefits from two to four weeks at full pay. It also launched policies on fertility and pregnancy loss. It also has an emergency care policy to support those with dependents, recognizing that they may need to take time off work at short notice.
