Leading life and health insurance provider Prudential Cambodia announced today that it will be introducing additional benefits for staff to instil diversity and inclusion in its workplace, and support the health and wellbeing of its employees.

This aligns with the insurer’s purpose in helping its staff get the most out of life by supporting them to connect, grow and succeed at Prudential, while fulfilling long-term environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.

The company’s flagship employee benefits scheme has three focus areas. The first is to offer extra leave to staff to volunteer for charitable causes or pursue education or vocational training.

The second is to offer stronger support to employees with new parenting responsibilities, while the third focus is the overall health and wellness of Prudential’s staff.

Prudential employees will be entitled to three additional periods of paid leave to volunteer for charitable causes, with up to 12 months’ sabbatical leave to develop skills.

Sanjay Chakrabarty, the CEO at Prudential, said: “We believe that our employees work with us because they share our mission to make healthcare and insurance accessible and affordable to all Cambodians.

“With this shared sense of purpose, many of them want to positively contribute to Cambodian society. Some do this by volunteering for charitable causes, others by pursuing education or vocational training.

“Therefore, we wanted to ensure we are supporting our employees to become a positive force in Cambodian society.”

To offer stronger support to employees with new parenting responsibilities, Prudential has increased fully paid maternity leave for female staff from three months to four months, with an additional one month phase back period.

Meanwhile, they can choose to not take the four months leave and take the option of a $250 monthly maternity allowance for six months granted to support their return to the workforce after the delivery of their child.

Male staff will also have increased paid paternity leave of 15 days, up from five.

These entitlements are well above the local statutory requirements of three months and 50 per cent paid maternity leave, and five days of paid paternity leave.

Balaji Ravi, chief financial officer, said: “We developed this initiative to offer greater support to our colleagues as they welcome new members into their families.

“We believe it will help provide more opportunities to develop the next generation of female leaders in Cambodia.”

To increase the overall health and wellness of its staff, Prudential is offering free physical training activities at its office to encourage employees to take care of their physical wellbeing.

It also provides additional programmes to ensure their access to support on mental wellbeing when they need it, conveniently and confidentially through its 24/7 counselling and coaching services.

Kerry Ling, chief human resources officer said: “Our employees are young, with a median age of 27. At this young age, they can be shouldering the responsibilities of a job, taking care of ageing parents and starting a family.

“The pandemic has increased the various levels of stress our employees experience. Therefore, we have made 24/7 counselling and coaching available to our staff within an environment they can trust.”

Additionally, the insurer has trained select staff as certified mental health first aiders to connect employees with mental health professionals.

These mental health champions are trained to identify potential issues and offer initial help and guidance.

This year, Prudential will also celebrate a Group Wellness Day to collectively rest and recharge.

Prudential has embarked on a long-term commitment to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, as well as an overall approach to responsible business.

With the company’s inclusive product offerings, talent development and continued community investment, Prudential helps Cambodians protect and secure their financial futures through different facets of their everyday lives.

To discover more about joining the Prudential Cambodia team, please visit www.prudential.com.kh/en/join-us/.