Life and work in balance

That means they have lives outside their time with us: lives that deserve attention, respect, and support. Life and work have to be in balance.

Those lives sometimes make unusual demands, so we offer various leave options - paid, partly paid, unpaid or purchased - to help our people respond to major life events, whether happy or sad. In the case of one particular happy event, we also provide childcare support - we are a family-owned firm, after all. In addition, our packages of travel and transport assistance can help to take the strain out of moving between work and home. Since we’re a global company, and it’s quite possible that your career with us will take you to a new home, we may be able to help with relocation, too. 

On the other hand, if the stresses of life are starting to tell, our range of counselling and care services (including occupational health practitioners and clinical psychologists) can help to show a way forward, whether the issue is elder care, leadership stress, or social issues. Apart from our more formal support structures, we have designated health navigators – volunteer colleagues with specific training – to watch for signs of stress and offer confidential support. All our employees have access to online tools to maintain mental wellbeing.

And we’re taking a careful look at what our physical business environment looks like, reimagining many of our facilities as collaborative working spaces. We’re following an activity-based model: creating spaces for the specific working needs of real people, with dedicated areas for lively cooperation and calm individual focus – allowing not just more efficient work but reduced stress.

We recognize, too, that the way people work has changed in recent years. Technology has made new patterns of work possible and, where they’re genuinely feasible, we see no reason not to consider them. We are not a remote company, and we do value the time our people spend working face to face - but flexible working, and a robust system to facilitate it, are now part of our way of doing business. Some roles can also fit into arrangements like job sharing, flextime and part time work, depending on the location, the role, and person.

We call our approach ‘smart working’ – which is appropriate; after all, our people are smart people.  

Please note that benefits will vary between countries and sites, in order to accommodate local conditions and regulations. Employee eligibility criteria may apply.