StayWell Supports Employee Well-Being with New Parental Leave Policy

YARDLEY, Pa., Aug. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- StayWell, a health empowerment company, announced today it has launched a new gender-neutral paid parental leave program for all employees. The policy will provide three weeks of fully paid parental leave benefits to new parents.

The new parental leave program includes biological births, surrogate births, foster and adoption events. StayWell's new program officially began on Thursday, August 1, 2019, but financial benefits of the policy will be available retroactively for any qualifying event as of January 1, 2019.

"StayWell is dedicated to providing the most productive and flexible workplace for our teams. Our enhanced paid leave program offers all employees, whether full or part-time, the valuable time they need with their families at critical times in their lives," said Katherine Kelton, Chief People Officer of StayWell. "This expansion of our paid leave policy provides meaningful support to our incredible teams across the country as they juggle growing families, varied work schedules, and work-life integration."

StayWell will pay 100 percent of an employee's wages, whether they are full or part-time employees. The new paid leave program reinforces StayWell's core values of inclusion and employee well-being.

In addition to the parental leave program, StayWell will continue to offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package, which includes medical, vision and dental insurance, company provided life insurance, employee wellness programs, paid vacation and volunteer time off, and paid holidays. To learn more about working at StayWell, visit www.staywell.com/staywell-careers.

About StayWell

StayWell is a health empowerment company that enables populations to improve health outcomes through the science of behavior change. For more than 40 years, the company has been a pioneer in employer well-being and patient education solutions that lower risks and reduce costs. StayWell has earned numerous top industry honors for its population health programs, including the C. Everett Koop National Health Award and the Web Health Award. The company has also received Utilization Review Accreditation Committee (URAC) and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) accreditation for several of its programs. StayWell is majority-owned by Healthcare Services & Solutions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. The company is headquartered in Yardley, Pa., with additional locations including St. Paul, Minn. and Portland, Ore. To learn more, visit www.staywell.com or connect with StayWell on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

About Merck

For more than a century, Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer's disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA

This news release of The StayWell Company, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (the "company") includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation in the United States and internationally; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; the company's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of the company's patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions.

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the company's 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) available at the SEC's Internet site (www.sec.gov).

About Vestar Capital Partners

Vestar Capital Partners is a leading U.S. middle-market private equity firm specializing in management buyouts and growth capital investments. Vestar invests and collaborates with incumbent management teams and private owners to build long-term enterprise value, with a focus on Consumer, Healthcare, and Business Services & Industrial Products. Since its founding in 1988, Vestar funds have completed more than 80 investments in companies – as well as more than 200 add-on acquisitions – with a total value of approximately $50 billion. For more information, please visit www.vestarcapital.com.

SOURCE StayWell

Related Links

https://www.staywell.com