The University of Auckland, with the support of the TEU, is introducing a voluntary salary sacrifice arrangement for staff who have children in any of its university-based early childhood education centres.

The initiative arose out of the earlier Women Returning to the Workforce Project, a joint project of the university’s human resources and equity offices and the TEU.

A salary sacrifice arrangement is an arrangement between the university and a staff member whereby the staff member agrees to reduce his or her base salary in return for a university-based early childhood centre providing that staff member free childcare services equivalent in value to the amount of the reduction in the staff member’s pay.

Currently, employees who use the university’s early childhood education centres receive their annual salary from the university and PAYE tax is deducted from this amount. Then they pay their childcare fees directly to the early childhood centre from their net pay. Under a salary sacrifice arrangement the employee often will pay less tax and thus take home more pay.  For someone on a $50,000 salary, with early childhood education fees of $5,000, this arrangement could give them an annual saving in tax paid of approximately $1,358.

TEU organiser Jane Adams said the initiative is a simple, practical way that the university can support parents and their families who work at the university.

Other developments from this project include the introduction of volunteer parental leave advisors who advise and support those women and their families who need information or assistance around parental leave matters; breast-feeding spaces and that women who have taken parental leave are not disadvantaged; the development of a ‘Toolkit for combining Parenting and a Career‘; and regular meetings of women which address different topics specific to combining parenting and career.

Thanks to NZ Alex @ Flickr for the photo