OVO ENERGY ANNOUNCES UNLIMITED COMPASSIONATE AND PREGNANCY LOSS LEAVE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

• OVO launches People Offer for its 4,500 UK employees 
• The package includes unlimited compassionate and pregnancy loss leave – OVO is the only energy company in the UK to offer this mix of benefits
• People working at OVO can also take advantage of fully flexible working, ‘moments that matter’ and ‘recharge’ leave  – space to connect with phases in their life that deeply matter
• Comes as OVO research shows that over seven in ten UK workers who have taken compassionate leave felt that they cut their grieving process short

London, 24th January 2023 – OVO Energy announces industry-leading ‘People Offer’ – encompassing a range of progressive benefits designed to promote employee wellbeing, flexibility, belonging and inclusivity. 

The package sees OVO offer its employees unlimited, fully paid compassionate leave, so they can take the time they need to properly grieve the loss of a loved one, as well as unlimited paid leave for any kind of pregnancy-related loss – from miscarriages to unsuccessful IVF attempts. 

Businesses are not required by law to offer compassionate or pregnancy loss leave, so both new benefits set OVO apart in the sector when it comes to leave allowance.

Other benefits include paid leave for ‘Moments that Matter’, meaning days off can be taken for life’s important moments, such as a child’s first day of school, getting married, or even taking a week to learn a new life skill; and ‘recharge’ leave – extra paid leave granted after intense periods. 

And with new research showing that a quarter (25%) of people expect their employers to offer better flexible working options this year, the People Offer also includes a flexible working policy.

The new package reflects the importance of listening and acting on feedback, as OVO’s recent research reveals 72% of UK workers who have taken compassionate leave in the past two years said they cut their grieving process short to get back to work quicker.

 Over a third (34%) even said that they felt guilty about taking too much time off for compassionate leave, owing to work pressures.

Charlotte Eaton, Chief People Officer at OVO, comments: “Grief is experienced differently from person to person, so we feel strongly that we shouldn’t be prescriptive when it comes to compassionate leave, or leave for pregnancy loss. We hope that the offer of unlimited leave in both instances will allow individuals to recharge before returning to work with full support. 

Similarly, we know these past few years have been extremely difficult for everyone, and events such as the pandemic have made many reassess their priorities. Family time and space to reflect is crucial to overall well being, so we hope the flexible working policy and recharge leave will be equally welcomed by our people.”

Raman Bhatia, CEO of OVO, adds: “At OVO, it is our people who are at the heart of the business. Our People Offer demonstrates our commitment to prioritising the health and wellness of our people, leading the way to support our teams when they need us most.”

For more information on OVO’s People Offer and to see OVO’s current list of vacancies,  visit the OVO website.

ENDS

For more information please contact [email protected]. 

Notes to Editors

About OVO:

OVO was founded in 2009 and redesigned the energy experience to be fair, effortless, green and simple for all customers. OVO was awarded Company of the Decade at the BusinessGreen Leaders’ Awards and has won multiple awards, including Innovation Project of the Year, for investing in the market leading technology, customer service operations and digital products to help customers cut their carbon emissions. OVO is on a mission through its sustainability strategy Plan Zero to tackle the most important issue of our time; the climate crisis, by bringing our customers with us on the journey towards zero carbon living. OVO Energy has committed to being a net zero carbon business and achieve bold science-based carbon reduction targets, while helping customers reduce their household emissions at the same time. 

About OVO’s People Offer: 

The People Offer includes the following:

• • Flexible working: We created our ‘OVO Way of Working’ because we want OVO to be a place where our people can invest in their career while balancing other aspects of their life.  
  • Unlimited compassionate leave for pregnancy loss: Family leave supports anyone who has suffered a pregnancy loss or is supporting someone, ensuring time is taken to grieve and recover as a family. The leave covers any kind of loss, including: miscarriage, abortion, ectopic pregnancy and unsuccessful IVF attempts.

• Unlimited compassionate leave: No limit to how long someone needs to recover from a bereavement or support a relative or friend with an illness.

• Moments that matter leave:  Understanding that there’s some moments in life that just can’t be missed, such as your child’s first school play, time to dedicate a week to learning a new skill, or additional time to celebrate your Wedding Day.  Five days granted for this every four years. 

• • Additional leave for new and growing families: Recognising the need for support for those undergoing IVF treatment, or those supporting a partner, to take increased leave to attend and recover from appointments. 

• Recharge leave: After a busy period OVO’s people can take extra paid leave to enjoy well-earned rest. Leave granted at a manager’s discretion. 

• Minimum pay: OVO is already committed to being a Real Living Wage employer, offering our people a minimum £9.50 per hour nationally. We’ve gone further than this to offer an OVO minimum pay of £11 per hour.

• Flexible Holidays/Bank Holidays: Three bank holidays are automatically booked, as the days the business will officially close. For other bank holidays our people are entitled to choose how and when they use them.

• Green pensions:  Partnering with L&G to have a default fund with an ESG tilt.

• Flex Fund: The ability to adjust your 9% flex pay to best meet your current needs – you can either use it to spend on a great list of  benefits or take as cash.

About polling:

Strand Partners’ specialist research team conducted an online survey of 1,416 nationally representative members of the public who are in employment, between 6pm Tuesday, 17th January and 7am Wednesday, 18th January. Of these respondents, 214 had taken some form of compassionate leave in the past two years. Respondents were selected for representativeness using quotas by age and gender (interlocked) and NUTS 1 regions UK. All data was then weighted against the latest ONS census.

Strand Partners’ online polling studies are accredited by the British Polling Council and conducted under their rules of disclosure. All data gathered is of a publishable quality and is produced within Market Research Society guidelines.

For full data tables and more detail of the methodology, please e-mail: [email protected].