When asked to describe Firehouse, one of the first words that comes to mind is family. Being a small agency gives us the chance to work closely together and build relationships, and we’re proud to support each other both in and out of the office. And that includes supporting the newest members of the Firehouse family and their proud (and tired) parents.
Our Director of Operations, Megan Ward, gave birth to her daughter Blake in October, and she knows not all working parents are guaranteed paid parental leave or even any leave at all.
“In our industry, decent parental leave is hard to find, let alone best-in-class. I count myself incredibly lucky to work for a company that's leading the charge in this space. The time to heal and bond is such a gift,” Megan says.
We built our Parental Leave policy with our core values in-mind, and we aim to support our employees however they choose to build a family. Our policy only distinguishes between birth mothers and non-birth parents.
Birth mothers receive 16 total weeks leave: 12 weeks are fully paid, plus they have two transition weeks where they can work 50% of the time to ease back into work. Non-birth parents - whether the husband of a wife giving birth, an adopting parent, or half of a same-sex couple having a child via surrogacy - get 10 total weeks: six weeks of fully paid leave with four half-time work weeks. And, we also provide financial assistance to offset some of the costs of adoption.
For our Project Management Supervisor, Phil Brito, having paternity leave benefits gave him priceless time with his wife and daughter Rachel last spring.
“Being a first time parent, I didn't know what to expect. Having guaranteed time to spend bonding with Rachel in her first few months was a special time that I'm grateful for,” Phil says.
While you can’t count on your co-workers to help change diapers, we know Firehouse will always support growing families, and we’re proud that this benefit makes us one of the Best Places to Work.
