Richard Branson Announces 1-Year Parental Leave on Full Pay for Employees

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin group's employee benefit policies are again in the spotlight. After introducing "unlimited" vacations last year for employees, the UK-based Virgin group is now offering some staff up to a year's parental leave on full pay.

Its investment arm Virgin Management has introduced a new initiative giving all employees in its London and Geneva offices a year's full pay for shared parental leave. It is applicable to employees with four years or more service.

Virgin Group has presence in many businesses including mobile telephony, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays and health & wellness.

"If you take care of your employees they will take care of your business. That is a philosophy that has served us well for more than four decades, and is the foundation of everything we do at Virgin," Mr Branson wrote in a blog post. "As a father and now a grandfather to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child's life is but also how much hard work it takes. Being able to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones is absolutely vital, especially early on."

"Health and wellbeing in the workplace should play a critical part in every company's thinking. The more you support your staff, the happier and healthier your business will be," he adds.

Mr Branson is one of the UK's most high-profile entrepreneurs. Forbes has estimated his net worth at over $5 billion. His Twitter profile describes him as a, "tie-loathing adventurer, philanthropist & troublemaker, who believes in turning ideas into reality."