Working Families is the UK’s work-life balance charity. Their mission is to remove the barriers that people with caring responsibilities face in the workplace. They provide the tools and benchmarking to influence policy and advise employers on best practice.
We originally signed-up with Working Families in 2021, and GC has now renewed its membership for a further 12 months.
Creating a positive and supportive environment for our colleagues who are parents and/or carers is important to us at GC, and although not a defined protected characteristic, we recognise the impact that caring responsibilities can have on our colleagues’ lives.
We want to actively listen to the news to keep on top of any caring-relevant areas, and better use the data and insights available to us from memberships such as this. It all feeds into our planning, thinking and decision making to support our colleagues and our business processes across the right areas of support, at the right times of the year.
A great example of where our support and inspiration for colleagues and our relationship Working Families comes to life is during the summer holidays, where we recognise that it can also be a source of anxiety for many colleagues who might have the added pressure of organising additional childcare, as well the extra costs of keeping the young people entertained throughout the school holidays.
About our commitment to maintaining this employer membership, Naomi Ilagoswa, Co-chair of our Parents & Carers EDI Network told us:
"At GC, we’re a family. By listening to our colleagues, working with our own business networks and our partners, and through membership of national charities, we'll have a strong collective knowledge base and a deeper understanding of how we can help our colleagues navigate caring responsibilities.
"With over 40 years’ experience, Working Families has a unique understanding of what it takes to be an inclusive, agile organisation. By continuing to work with them, through our Parents & Carers EDI Network we'll continue to evolve and influence GC's commitment to caring responsibilities and push the boundaries of understanding with access to Working Families' internationally renowned research and their work with policy makers on shaping legislation, policy and practice."
You can see the full list of Working Families' employer members here.