Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

[Max Aitkins sits on a sofa in a cafe to discuss his Vicinity parental leave]

Hi there, I'm Max, I'm part of the talent acquisition team at Vicinity. I've just returned from my parental leave. I've been away for 16 weeks for parental leave, welcoming our newborn baby, baby boy into the world.

So it's been a very, very full on and exciting time and you know, just a big adjustment getting used to this, this new way of life. So it's, yeah, it's been fantastic.

So the parental leave benefit Vicinity is 16 weeks of leave, which can be taken all at once or over a few different blocks. It's available to all permanent team members and you can get it from day one of starting. And it's been really, really beneficial for particularly my family in general, as it's our first baby that we've, we've welcomed into the world. And it's just given us that time to, to get used to that, that life now and to and without the added stresses of work and things happening.

And, you know, be able to, to share the load of responsibility and look after my partner after she's given birth, which is it's amazing to have that opportunity.

The main highlight, to be honest, would be the, the option I had to see family Interstate. I didn't have that, that that added thing of I need to be back for a certain time for, for this or that meeting or anything else.

And just having that stress taken away has has been really, really good for us to be able to have that quality time with family.

The number one bit of advice I would have would be to just try and be present and in the moment.
It's very easy to get caught up in the day to day worries and everything, but always just taking a step back and being mindful of that. You're not going to have this early period again with this baby. You know, they grow up so fast already. We're seeing that early on.

And I think just taking each day and not trying to really think too far ahead.