Companies will be offered to support employees with family responsibilities

The recommendations offer more than 60 support measures. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who spoke at a meeting of the State Council’s family commission on November 28, the project was developed “by the forces of the social partners – FNPR and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs – together with the government based on proposals that were born, among other things, from the practices of the regions.” On November 29, the project must be considered at a meeting of the interdepartmental social and labor commission and, if applicable. approved, in the regional tripartite commissions.

As follows from the project, business support for families should contribute to “employee marriages”, “strengthen traditional values”, “increase respect for parenthood and large families”, as well as increase the birth rate. The measures are advisory in nature, but it is proposed to involve as many employers as possible in their discussion and complement them with regional best practices.

In particular, employers are recommended to:

• promote the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities (for example, by providing additional leave or changing hours);

• reimburse the expenses of kindergartens and nurseries, as well as organize such institutions on a corporate basis;

• pay money for the birth of a child or the registration of a first marriage;

• pay the first installment of a mortgage loan, partially offset the rent or provide housing on a rent-to-own basis on preferential terms;

• pay for the education of employees’ children in secondary vocational educational institutions and organize/pay for courses on family and parenting issues.

Elena Feoktistova, General Director of Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, noted that the recommendations were developed on the basis of practices already used by more than 400 organizations. “The recommendations are addressed not only to large companies, but also to small and medium-sized companies, which could, taking into account their capabilities, choose what they want to do,” Feoktistova emphasized.

In August 2023, Vedomosti reported that it had begun developing a list of recommendations for companies to support employees “with family obligations.” Then the Ministry of Labor informed the newspaper that some materials for compiling the list were provided by the participants and winners of the “Russian Organization of High Social Efficiency” competition.