Best practice? | Aviva ousts HR Chief on maternity leave

Insurance firm Aviva has come under fire for terminating the contract of its leading HR Chief Sarah Morris, who has served for four years at the company, whilst she was on maternity leave.

The move came just 18 months after Chief People Officer Morris had launched an equality drive within the company to give all new parents fully-paid time off. Despite being put on immediate garden leave, Morris described her time at the company as “positive” and claimed that Aviva is a “fantastic business, despite the plan to hand over the baton”.

The HR leader’s innovative campaign to offer full pay to new parents has since been removed from the company’s website and will not be offering the policy to its 30,000 staff in its Norwich, Bristol, Sheffield, York, Perth and Glasgow locations.

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The company has faced heavy criticism since firing Morris, after previously calling out other firms for their lack of gender diversity and parental leave policies. Aviva now has just three women along with eight men on its Board, and three women along with 12 men on its leadership team.