RBC Wealth Management has put in place a number of benefits designed to create a friendly environment for women.
These benefits are not just focused on career but on the whole self, said Shareen Luze, senior director of human resources for RBC Wealth Management, who heads the initiatives.
“We are committed to earning the privilege of being our employees' first choice as a place to work," said Luze. "Our goal is to support each employee as a whole person, and that means making our workplace more flexible to support them at different stages of life.’’
RBC was a lead sponsor of the 5th Annual Invest in Women Conference held in Atlanta last week. The conference is sponsored by Financial Advisor magazine
Luze said when she stepped into the role a year ago one of the things she started to look at was how the company's current benefits were earning the commitment of employees. “How are we enabling advisors to take maternity leave and how are we enabling them when they return to the workforce?’’ she said.
One of the enhanced benefit is collaborating with Milk Stork, a service that makes work trips easier for nursing mothers by providing cooler kits, postage and shipping supplies to allow them to safely ship or carry breast milk home. The service is fully covered by RBC, and is available to all benefits-eligible employees in the U.S. when they are traveling for business.
Luze noted that she had been a working mom, nursing and trying to travel and “it was a disaster,’’ she said. “So it was exciting to facilitate this for women in the workforce,’’ she said.
Also, beginning this summer, the firm will make center-based back-up child care available to all employees across the U.S. An in-home back-up care option for children, including those who are mildly ill, will also be available.
And citing a recent research conducted by Ipsos survey on behalf of RBC that shows one in five (19 percent) American adults assists an older family member, RBC has extended the in-home back-up care benefit to include care of adults. The research also showed 17 percent regularly help with chores, cooking, cleaning or traveling to appointments, five percent provide housing and five percent offer financial support.
The benefits, while long overdue, come at an opportune time. As Luze pointed out, many of the advisors are of the sandwich generation – employees taking care of children and their parents. “So they have a triple-added role.’’