Employers looking to strengthen workplace culture, improve retention and support gender equality may want to pay close attention to a growing shift in family leave policies. The announcement from Markel that it is increasing paid leave for secondary carers from 12 weeks to 26 weeks comes at a time when expectations around family-friendly workplaces are evolving rapidly. The Employment Rights Act is raising the floor through stronger rights for working parents and carers, but some employers are choosing to raise the ceiling.
Markel’s move goes significantly beyond statutory requirements and reflects a growing recognition that family leave is no longer simply an employee benefit. Increasingly, it is being viewed as a strategic lever for creating inclusive cultures, supporting employee wellbeing and improving long-term organisational performance. Equal parental leave policies are also increasingly recognised as a way to encourage shared caregiving responsibilities and reduce the career impact that caring responsibilities can disproportionately have on women.
The challenge, however, extends beyond policy design. In a recent Make A Difference Leaders Podcast, one of the UK’s most prominent writers and speakers on fatherhood and masculinity Elliott Rae, argued that senior leaders need to visibly take parental leave if organisations are serious about changing workplace culture. For HR and wellbeing leaders, the message is clear: meaningful change happens when progressive policies are backed by leadership role modelling that gives employees confidence to use them.
What Markel’s enhanced family leave policy includes
Markel’s enhanced secondary carer leave policy increases paid leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for eligible UK employees whose partner has given birth or who have become an adoptive parent, including through surrogacy.
While the policy itself is significant, the organisation is placing equal emphasis on helping employees feel able to use it. Alongside the enhanced entitlement, Markel is investing in practical support before, during and after leave, including manager guidance, peer support initiatives for expectant and returning parents, and dedicated community circles designed to help employees navigate key life transitions.
For organisations reviewing their own approach to family-friendly policies, the announcement highlights an important lesson: the employee experience is shaped not only by what is written in a policy document, but by the support structures that surround it.
Creating confidence to take leave
One of the biggest challenges facing employers is ensuring employees feel confident taking advantage of the benefits available to them.
Research and lived experience suggest that employees can still worry about the impact of extended leave on career progression, workload or team relationships. This can be particularly true for secondary carers, who have historically taken shorter periods of leave than primary carers.
Markel’s approach seeks to address this through a combination of leadership endorsement, manager support and peer networks. Together, these initiatives help create consistency in how leave is experienced across the organisation and provide employees with practical guidance throughout the process.
For HR leaders, this raises an important consideration. As employee expectations evolve, organisations may need to look beyond individual policies and consider whether managers, leaders and workplace systems are equipped to support them effectively.
A broader approach to supporting employees through life events
The enhanced leave policy forms part of a wider programme of support that Markel has introduced in recent years, including frameworks relating to fertility, baby loss, menopause, domestic abuse and caring responsibilities.
This reflects a growing recognition that employee wellbeing is influenced by experiences both inside and outside work. Rather than treating these issues as separate challenges, many organisations are beginning to adopt a more joined-up approach that acknowledges the realities of employees’ lives and the impact major life events can have on wellbeing, engagement and performance.
For employers focused on creating healthy workplace cultures, the question is increasingly becoming not simply how to support people while they are at work, but how to support them through the moments that matter most.
Family-friendly policies as a strategic differentiator
Commenting on the changes, Markel’s Chief People Officer Jo Browning described the enhanced leave as part of the organisation’s commitment to creating “confidence and consistency” for employees taking family leave.
As competition for talent remains high and expectations around employee experience continue to grow, family-friendly policies are increasingly becoming a differentiator for employers. They are also becoming an important signal of organisational values, demonstrating how seriously a business takes inclusion, wellbeing and support for working families.
Markel’s enhanced secondary carer leave policy is a reminder that while legislation sets minimum standards, organisations have an opportunity to go further. For HR, wellbeing and people leaders, the challenge is no longer whether family-friendly policies matter, but how to design them in ways that employees feel confident using and leaders are willing to champion.
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