New initiative seeks to keep 'best and brightest' inhouse

High profile Australian fashion house Apparel Group has become the latest to implement new maternity, paternity and training measures in an attempt to retain staff.

The Alexandria-based group, which owns the Sportscraft and Saba brands as well as producing garments under license for Myer and Sussan, has introduced 12 weeks paid maternity leave and two weeks paid paternity leave to members of its permanent workforce.

The group, which has more than 1250 employees across Australia, 84 per cent of which are female, has ruled permanent staff must have worked for the company for a minimum of 18 months continuously to be eligible for the scheme. It follows a similar move by Myer which earlier this year introduced six weeks paid maternity leave to encourage staff to remain with the company.

Under the Apparel Group arrangement staff will have a choice as to how they have their benefit paid - either 12 weeks full pay in line with existing payroll cycles or half the normal pay rate for the duration of the period, extending the scheme to six months.

The announcement comes on top of moves by the privately-owned group to double its investment in training for both management and the sales force as well as maintain its incentive scheme, believe to be among the highest in the country.

Apparel Group managing director Andrew Michael said the initiatives were part of the company's strategy to attract and keep the best and brightest people through creating what he termed as an "ethical and harmonious" workplace.
While admitting there were costs involved in implementing such initiatives, Michael said the company saw considerable benefits in investing in staff, particularly in such a tight labour market.

"Our philosophy is that during challenging economic times good retailers can differentiate themselves with good product and good customer service. The way for us to engage the customer, is to have the best people working for us throughout the business, especially at the front line," he said.

By Tracey Porter