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CORPORATE AUSTRALIA REAPS THE REWARDS OF TEAM HOLIDAY EMPLOYEE SUBSIDIES

Announcement posted by Greta Donaldson Publicity 23 Mar 2018

Busy employees at some of Victoria’s leading organisations are reaping the rewards of school holiday programs with Team Holiday as employers roll the benefits into their corporate salary packages.

According to data collected by the Australian Institute of Family Affairs in its 2016 ‘School-Aged Care Survey’, 45 per cent of mothers and 31 per cent of fathers who use child care services take paid leave during the school holidays to care for their children. A further 23 per cent of mothers and 9 per cent of fathers take unpaid leave or reduce their work hours to care for their children.

The founding director of Team Holiday, Sam Hoath, said progressive businesses recognised the real struggle people could face when balancing work needs with family commitments, especially during school holiday periods.

“Average full-time employment contracts offer four weeks of annual leave but students have 12 weeks of school holidays and many private schools have even more,” Mr Hoath said.

“It can be a very stressful time for working parents so we have worked with companies to come up with a solution that not only aims to position them as an employer of choice, but also lifts productivity, reduces sick leave and carers leave, and improves job satisfaction and workplace culture.”

The idea came about in 2013, when Team Holiday began running its first on-site program for the Department of Health and Human Services in Melbourne.

The company now has partnerships with organisations including the AFL, Etihad Stadium, the Department of Education and Training, Melbourne Cricket Club and Collins Square.

While some organisations opt to provide a Team Holiday service on-site, others choose an employee subsidy package, which enables employees to access school holiday programs at convenient locations, either near home or work, at a discounted rate at 70 existing Team Holiday sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Geelong and Bendigo.

“Many offices don’t have appropriate space for children,” Mr Hoath said. “Our new employee subsidy package overcomes the need for businesses to have suitable space and increases accessibility.”

Mr Hoath said there was a growing trend among corporate employers to offer incentives to meet family needs.

“Organisations can see the benefits, not only to their employees’ work-life balance, but also in the loyalty a program such as this fosters within their workforce. When their children are happy and well looked after, employees are happy too.”

“This is a huge bonus for employees and employers. We often find employees’ children becoming friends through attending our programs, further developing a sense of community and connectedness for employees within the workplace. And our children get to enjoy experiences they wouldn’t find anywhere else, and make lifelong friends and memories in the process.”

A former teacher, Mr Hoath established Team Holiday in June 2011 to meet a need for fun, engaging school holiday activities. The company expanded to offer before and after-school in June 2017. All staff working in before and after-school care are qualified or training to be teachers.

 “We create genuinely stimulating experiences that children want to be at, not have to be at. This immediately removes any guilt or stress that parents often feel when it comes to sending their child off to anything during the holidays,” he said.

Team Holiday offers programs for primary school aged children (aged 5 to 12) from Tuesday April 3 to Friday April 13 and all public school, holiday periods throughout 2018. There also is an adventure camp offered for children aged 11 to 17.  For further information, visit www.teamholiday.com.au