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How many times have you thought: wouldn’t it be great if I could have my birthday off? In what we hope will be a new precedent in Australia, employees at one association now have the privilege of celebrating their special day as they see fit.
As part of their commitment to acknowledging the importance of work-life balance, C&K human resources general manager Amber Simpson said a paid day off was the best present C&K could provide to their staff.
“We initiated this policy because we all know how nice it is not to have to work on your birthday. It’s a special day for an individual and this way they can spend the day doing whatever they like,” Ms Simpson said. “We want to show our staff we value them.”
One of the first staff members to take up the offer was C&K Kindercraft early childhood teacher Melissa McCabe (pictured above). Ms McCabe said this type of initiative helped create a positive work culture. Staff morale was especially important in the children’s services profession, she said.
“When you’re working with children you need to be upbeat and refreshed or else it affects your work performance, which ultimately affects the children. When we were first told about the initiative we were all very excited. It shows that C&K values its employees. It’s another positive incentive to encourage early childhood educators to join our team.”
Now the precedent has been set, the challenge is to have many more employers across Australia to follow C&K’s example by awarding their employees their birthday off from work.
AAP