At Redbrick, our benefits for families and new parents reflect how much we value them as part of our team.

The smallest changes to company policy can dismantle huge barriers in a person’s career. Our benefits package and parental leave procedure create a robust support system so parents can truly prioritize family while excelling in their career at Redbrick.

Our culture initiatives, benefits, and policies (including parental leave) extend to all our companies.

An introduction to our family benefits

We’re always working to improve our benefits packages because we want to deliver more than just an industry standard. To properly take care of our team and their families, we want to proactively address their needs.

As a result, our list of benefits is always growing. We’ll take you through some of the staple offerings for Redbrickers that directly relate to supporting family time:

• 12 months paid parental leave: We offer a full 12 months of job-protected leave for primary caregivers, covering up to 75% of their salary—and 4 weeks of 100% paid leave for parenting partners so they can bond with their babies and provide support. These policies apply to all new birth and adoptive parents, and to all team members no matter where they’re located.
• Pregnancy loss leave: Primary caregivers and parenting partners receive 2 weeks of leave with 100% base salary following the loss of a pregnancy, adoption, or surrogacy. If additional time off is needed in these situations, we will always work with you to provide further support.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage: After completing 3 months of employment, full-time permanent employees and their families have access to our company-sponsored extended benefits plan that includes dental, vision, and up to $3,500 per person for orthodontics coverage.
• Flexible work schedule: Our teams make the most of a truly flexible work schedule which comes in handy for school drop-offs, pick-ups, and appointments. Sometimes, parenting doesn’t fit neatly outside of a 9-5. We trust our team to manage their schedule to accommodate family commitments.
• Bonus company holidays: Throughout the year, we turn some 3-day weekends into 4-day weekends, lining up bonus days off with long weekends in the school calendar so our employees can spend more time as a family.
• Personal significance days (Canada only): Move statutory holidays to dates that are significant to you. It could be your child’s birthday, an anniversary, a family celebration—any day that’s important to you. These times are precious, and we encourage employees to be present for them!
• Late December company closure: All our offices close the week of December 25th until January 2nd to give our team extra family time over the holiday season. Some team members remain on-call during this time, but most employees just keep an eye on their email and don’t open their laptops unless absolutely necessary.
• Financial wellness planning: Use free financial planning sessions with Finlotus to gain financial literacy skills you can pass on to the entire family. Work with a licensed accountant to create debt management plans, optimize your finances, or learn about investment options.
• Counselling Services: Access to mental support through our benefits plan includes dedicated counselling hours for couples and dependents, in addition to a full suite of options and providers for our employees.
• Workplace community: Our parenting Slack channel is where our team can swap stories, tips, or photos of what we've done on the weekend. (It’s also a great space to brag about our kids).

How does this impact our teams?

As an employer, we don’t lose out by providing comprehensive benefits and this kind of paid parental leave.

"Good parental leave practices help us attract and retain talented women and men. We're really proud to say that 100% of our team members who have gone on leave have returned to us."

Christine Tatham, VP of People & Culture

Supporting our team during these pivotal life moments is our most solid investment. The cost of replacing an employee, if they didn’t return because of inadequate support, is anywhere from 30 - 400% of their salary. More importantly, the value of a dedicated Redbricker: priceless.

We have a 100% retention rate with parents returning from their company-paid parental leave. Through our benefits and leave package, we build a strong workplace culture of trust and respect for work-life balance.

These policies also have a positive (and critical) impact on the structure of our company. A lack of adequate parental leave and support for employees with families disproportionately affects women. Specifically, the number of women who can climb to leadership roles.

Alongside mindful hiring and promotion practices, parental leave plays a massive role in women’s career advancement. Without company-sponsored leave, primary caregivers (disproportionately women) lose their place on the career ladder or leave the workforce and don't return.

Implementing comprehensive parental leave and job security creates an equitable organization from the bottom up. More new caregivers retain their career position and feel encouraged to continue upward. The result? We benefit from the leadership, experience, and dedication of all the Redbrick parents trusting us with their careers.

Building better work-life balance

Your workplace should support your quality of life, not compete with it. This philosophy drives everything we do because what’s best for our team is what’s best for Redbrick. People are our biggest asset.

"We try to make sure that our policies and culture go above and beyond industry standards because we know that our people go above and beyond for us."

Christine Tatham, VP of People & Culture

Our benefits package will keep evolving to meet the needs of parents and non-parents, but you can always count on one thing: we’ll take care of our team inside and out of work.

(And that you can always catch us bragging about our kids over Slack).