Kraft Canada – Progressive Employers of Canada

At Kraft Canada, our commitment to a Healthy Organization through Employee Wellness fosters a winning work climate that embraces and encourages flexibility.

Managing life both personally and professionally is an ongoing challenge, and requires a degree of flexibility to meet life priorities. Kraft recognizes that flexible people can adapt to and are more resilient to change, which increases opportunities for winning solutions, successful business results, greater employee satisfaction, and greater productivity in all areas of life.

All Kraft employees have access to daily flexibility in how they plan their work and personal schedules, but recognizes there are times when a more formal flexible work arrangement (FWA) is needed.
Formal flexible work arrangements (FWA) support individual circumstances and provide custom solutions to employees. Varying life stages and life stage transitions may be best managed with an FWA, intended to provide employees with the individual flexibility to navigate the challenges of busy lives and make life circumstances manageable. Kraft has many tools and resources available to support these decisions.

Our flexible and inclusive culture, along with many support tools offered to working moms, helps them achieve their potential both personally and professionally.

Here are some of the great resources Kraft has to offer:
MATERNITY/PARENTAL LEAVE RESOURCES & PROGRAMS
Maternity Leave Top-Up: Kraft Canada tops up maternity leave pay to 100% for up to 17 weeks, depending on length of service.
Adoption Assistance: The adoption assistance program is available through Kraft’s benefits program, and is designed to provide an adoption consultation and referral service, as well as adoption expenses reimbursement of up to $2500 per child.

Expecting & New Parents Handbook: Successfully Navigating the Transition to & from Work: This handbook provides employees the tools and resources to effectively manage their leave, including planning and preparation, transitioning between work and home, being on leave, and transitioning back to the workplace. This handbook is supplemented by an on-line “Parents that Work” resource that provides parents at all stages access to external information and tools related to pregnancy, child development, child care, health & safety, products & services, and government resources.

Manager’s Handbook: Successfully Managing Maternity & Parental Time Away from Work: This handbook acknowledges the accountability a manager has in this important life stage, and the influence they have on an employee’s perception of their value to the organization. This step-by-step guide provides tools and resources, and outlines the manager’s role at various stages of the employee’s leave.

“Welcome Baby” Gift Box: When baby arrives, it is an exciting time for the family and Kraft wants to participate in this celebratory life event. In partnership with Invest in Kids, Kraft distributes a gift box to all Kraft families welcoming a new life. This box contains helpful resources and information about Kraft’s maternity & parental leave programs and partnerships, a small gift for baby and a personal letter from our President.

“Welcome Back” Package: Kraft recognizes the potential difficulty of a transition back to work from parental leave. To support this transition, a package is given to each returning employee highlighting the organizational support available. This includes re-orientation guidelines for both the employee and their manager, a highlight of the work life tools & resources, external partnerships & services available, and a reminder of key company information such as payroll dates, statutory holiday schedule, and learning & development calendar.

External Parenting Partnerships & Services: Kraft has a number of partner organizations that offer resources and support to parents. These partnerships include Kids & Company for permanent and emergency childcare, as well as our EAP provider. Through these partnerships families can gain information and access to daycare facilities.

Community Groups: Kraft has two community groups of interest for working mom’s – our Family Community Group (FCG) and Women’s Community Group (WCG). The FCG helps individuals achieve their personal and professional goals by providing a source of useful family information and a support network of colleagues. The FCG also sponsors a “New Mom’s Group” which provides a forum for expecting and new moms to discuss the many topics associated with being a parent, including the transitions to and from work. It also creates an opportunity to build a network of fellow supportive moms to whom they can ask questions on a variety of topics. The WCG sponsors and hosts a number of events for all women, focusing in the areas of life coaching, career leadership, mentoring, personal development, goal setting, networking, and engaging in the external community.

CONVENIENCE SERVICES
Concierge Services: This service is available to all Kraft Canada employees to help busy employees simplify their life.
On-site Conveniences (varies by location): Kraft recognizes the time-starved employee and offers convenience to employees during working hours. Examples of these services include on-site:

 fitness centre
 massage, chiropractic and naturopathic services
 flu shots
 blood donor clinics
 “drop-off” dry cleaning and film processing
 availability of greeting cards, gift certificates, and stamps for purchase
 “5 o’clock Solutions” program through which employee’s can order ready-made meals to take home to their family

Workshops & Fairs: Kraft hosts a number of informative workshops in topics ranging from parenting to financial planning, to estate & will planning, to organizing & decorating your home. We also host a number of fairs that provide convenient access to a wide-variety of information & providers focusing on health, community volunteerism, or parenting support.