Family Friendly Employer Charter Lunch and Learn session
We would like to thank Avjeet Grewal for joining us to share the new Essex County Council Family Friendly Employer Charter. We already have the following Working Well organisations signed up to the Charter:
- Anglia Ruskin University
- Castlepoint District Council
- Chelmsford City Council
- Colchester Borough Council
- Harlow District Council
- Mid and South Essex Hospital Trust
- Provide CIC
- Tending District Council
Family-friendly strategy and culture
To foster a family-friendly strategy and culture, employers should:
- promote a positive culture and attitude to different ways of working
- support managers and employees to talk about different working arrangements
- during induction, provide information about the opportunities and process to make a flexible working request
- make information around family-friendly practices and workplace benefits for families easy to access
- make roles open to part-time and flexi-time where possible, including senior positions
- where possible, provide support for employees such as mentoring, resilience and aspiration building and peer support networks
- provide part-time staff with equal access to training, development and opportunities to progress
Flexible working
In line with the employers’ needs, employers should aim to:
- offer a range of flexible working options such as flexible working hours, working from outside the main office, condensed hours, extended lunch breaks and acceptable breaks for family commitments
- advertise jobs as flexible (where flexible working options are possible)
- start from a position of “yes” when it comes to flexible working requests
- provide advance notice of shift patterns
Annual leave and supporting parents outside of term time
To help employees manage work and caring commitments, employers should:
- provide a range of leave options to support parents such as dependent leave, unpaid leave, emergency care leave and options to buy extra leave
- ensure information about leave options to meet family commitments is easy to access
- consider who may need leave, flexible hours or flexible workplaces during holidays for childcare purposes
Download the charter as an accessible PDF: Essex Employers Family-Friendly Charter (PDF, 190KB)
It’s easy to sign up, visit the website here to learn more
The Charter will also help you achieve your Working Well Accreditation Award as well!
