Jollyes has introduced a range of new and improved support measures for its staff as part of its ongoing mission to be one of the best employers in UK retail.

The firm, which is now trading from 109 stores across the UK and has over 1,250 colleagues, has significantly upgraded its parental leave policies.

Starting next month, Jollyes’ employees will be entitled to enhanced paid maternity leave of six months, up from six weeks, while paid paternity leave will double to four weeks, up from two weeks.

Jollyes also understands that there are many roads to becoming a parent, and wants to support all colleagues who may be at different stages of this journey.

That’s why the pets specialist has introduced fertility leave for two days of each IVF cycle, alongside neonatal leave and baby loss leave.

Jollyes people director Claire Goldenberg said: “The early response from Jollyes employees to our enhanced parental policies has been fantastic – with the introduction of baby loss leave particularly striking a chord.

“As a working mum myself, it was very important to me that Jollyes parental policies stood alongside the best in the industry. We are committed to our goal of being one of the best employers in retail. That’s why we wanted to ensure our parental policies was one of many reasons our people would want to build a long-term career with us – not the other way round.”

Alongside this enhanced policy, Jollyes has launched partnerships with several strategic partners to ensure its benefits package is as valuable as possible for employees.

The retailer has teamed up with financial wellbeing app WageStream to enable employees to financially plan, see upcoming payments ahead of time and drawing payments in advance when necessary.

Ms Goldenberg continued: “We appreciate that the stretch between December and January payday can be a real pinch point for many people’s finances, which was why partnering with WageStream at this time of year was particularly important for us.

“We hope this partnership will help give our incredible people that extra bit of peace of mind over the Christmas period, and in the months to come.”

Jollyes has also partnered with The Retail Trust to launch its Happiness Dashboard.

Employees across the business will have access to a personalised dashboard with tips and tools to help ‘find their happy’ at work. Jollyes will also receive anonymised data from colleagues who complete a short survey, which will give the business a clearer picture of the benefits that most resonate for employees.

Finally, Jollyes has teamed up with a number of organisations to help broaden the range of people who have the chance to build a career here – including over-50’s recruitment platform Rest Less, and Fair Chance Business Alliance, which specialises on securing role for people with criminal records.

Jollyes has also pledged to guarantee any ex-servicemen and women who apply for a role an interview through its new partnership with the Armed Forces Covenant.

Jollyes revamped careers portal has now generated over 7,000 applications in eight weeks, which will support the retailer’s ambitious growth plans.