{ "id": 2755, "date": "2023-03-31T13:21:27", "date_gmt": "2023-03-31T13:21:27", "guid": { "rendered": "http:\/\/efcdigitalwales.org\/?page_id=2755" }, "modified": "2024-05-03T16:01:15", "modified_gmt": "2024-05-03T16:01:15", "slug": "promotion-championing-support-workplace-examples", "status": "publish", "type": "page", "link": "https:\/\/efcdigitalwales.org\/en_gb\/promotion-championing-support-workplace-examples\/", "title": { "rendered": "Promotion – Championing support (workplace examples)" }, "content": { "rendered": "
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Championing Support (workplace examples)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Workplace examples of championing support.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

PwC\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

Craig Hughes is PwC\u2019s global real estate leader and joined PwC 4 years ago. He is a father of three sons and carer to his 7 year old who has cerebral palsy and autism and his 8 year old who has dyslexia and dyspraxia.<\/p>

One of the things that Craig\u2019s son\u2019s autism brings is an exaggerated separation anxiety, which is particularly acute in the mornings. If Craig leaves the house before his son then the whole family\u2019s day will be ruined. Craig knew that changing his working pattern so that he could leave the house after his son would have a hugely beneficial impact for the whole family, so he adapted his working hours so that he could start the working day later.\u00a0<\/p>

PwC supported Craig working flexible hours to accommodate his caring responsibilities. His team and clients were also extremely supportive and welcomed the positive example that he sets. Craig\u2019s appointment as global head of real estate this year demonstrates that you don\u2019t have to work rigid hours or be in the office all of the time to get ahead.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cBecause of Morgan\u2019s separation anxiety I made the decision to ask for flexible working hours so that I could do what was best for my family. If I came in earlier I would be physically present, but not mentally present. So being able to adapt my working hours was a win-win situation for everybody.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cIf you need to make changes to fulfil your primary caring responsibilities don\u2019t feel guilty about it. You will be able to bring your best self to work if you look after yourself. It\u2019s great that PwC recognises this and helps people to adapt their working patterns to what works best for their situation,\u201d Craig says.<\/p>

Craig is so passionate about making sure carers get the support they need that he now heads up PwC\u2019s SPACE network (Supporting Parent, Carers and Everyone): \u201cI am absolutely committed to making sure that for whatever reason people never feel excluded. Your primary responsibility as a carer is for the person you are caring for. You should take time to do that and you shouldn\u2019t feel guilty about that. We also want people to look after themselves and make sure that they have respite from their caring responsibilities. Having a network of people dealing with similar challenges is a huge support and a safe haven to discuss issues.\u201d<\/p>

Aviva<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>

Aviva introduced a\u00a0carers policy<\/a>\u00a0and enhanced its bereavement leave benefit for its 16,000 UK-based employees.<\/p>

In addition to the Carer Policy, we also introduced a Workplace Adjustment passport; which allows employees to request adjustments to their working pattern in the short, medium and long term including formal requests to move from Full to Part-Time working.<\/p>

The new policy follows a pilot that was undertaken at the organisation\u2019s Bristol site in November 2016. This included 100 employees taking part in the We Care initiative, which provided a support network for employees to share their experiences, as well as the challenges, of juggling work and care commitments. The pilot further enabled Aviva to collect feedback on the issues that its working carers faced.<\/p>

We knew many of our UK employees combined working and caring commitments and that dealing with these dual responsibilities could be challenging and often unpredictable. It was important to us to support our employees with policies that helped.<\/p>

\u201cThrough the pilot in our Bristol office, we\u2019ve recognised that a significant number of our employees have caring duties. We\u2019ve also carried out independent research which revealed 83% of UK carers believe they should be treated by employers in the same way as parents; for example, having the right to take up to 18 or 21 weeks unpaid leave. Knowing this, we were very pleased to introduce this policy to give further support to all of our UK employees.<\/p>

\u201cChanging demographics and an ageing population mean that three in five people in the UK will end up caring for someone at some point of their lives. We took the step early, to support our employees and the people they care about.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Early champions<\/h3>

Centrica\/British Gas\u00a0
<\/b><\/p>

Centrica\/British Gas have led on innovative family friendly and flexible working practices and in 2004 were one of the first employers to set up a carers\u2019 network. They reported quantified business benefits from their innovative flexible working programme, \u201cwork:wise\u201d, in 2004 and from a subsequent study in 2007 on the impact of flexible working on performance. The company have had particular success in retaining engineers, whom they had identified as leaving the workplace. More recently, they have estimated potential cost savings of \u00a32.5 million through increased staff retention and \u00a34.5 million through reduced unplanned absenteeism.<\/p>

As winner of Business in the Community (BITC)\u2019s \u2018Championing an Ageing Workforce Award\u2019 in 2015, the company was recognised by the judges for having: clear metrics in place to show where the programme of support had an impact; embedded the programme into the culture of the business; and the fact that the programme had been reviewed by all key stakeholders, and had had \u2018sponsorship from the very top\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>

The programme was championed by the then Managing Director of British Gas, Ian Peters and managed by the HR department.\u00a0<\/p>

From: Centrica case study published by BITC, July 2015
<\/b><\/p>

\u2018As well as direct support for carers, the programme includes line manager training and the development of a mentoring scheme. Managers are given training and information on caring, the difference between caring and childcare and internal support for carers. Through this, Centrica aims to develop behaviours which build a carer friendly working environment.<\/p>

\u2018Centrica believes that there is a direct link between engagement, performance and retention. By supporting carers, the company has engaged and retained the high quality knowledge, skills and talent the organisation needs to thrive. It has saved an estimated \u00a34.5 million in unplanned absenteeism and \u00a32 million through retention.<\/p>

\u201cPolicies and practices that support carers are crucial to the resilience and success of our business. However, it is not only carers who need support \u2013 managers need to be aware of the issues working carers face, and to understand what is available to balance the needs of the business with those of the carer and other members of their teams. It is about knowing your employees and working flexibly with them to find solutions. At Centrica we strive to provide practical and sustainable ways to support carers and their managers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Ian Peters, former Managing Director, British Gas<\/p>

BT Group
<\/b><\/p>

Caroline Waters OBE, former Director of People and Policy for BT Group (and chair of Employers for Carers, 2009-2013):\u00a0<\/p>

\u2018For any organisation, major change only occurs as a result of a clear vision based on a business need. When BT began its journey towards becoming an organisation characterised by a high degree of flexibility in the late 1970s, it identified globalisation, fast accelerating technological developments and an expected huge increase in consumer demand as three key factors with profound implications for it as an organisation. It was clear that BT would experience high demand 365 days a year and 24\/7, and that to respond to this it would need to engage its employees 24\/7. Yet the fiercely competitive business environment it faced meant it would have to do this without increasing costs.<\/p>

\u2018BT grasped early on that flexibility is about choice, and that the detail of how flexibility can be achieved cannot be prescribed. More important was to ask, \u2019what do you want flexibility to be?\u2019 This posed a real challenge for managers, who crucially needed to grasp both the business needs facing the organisation, and the aspirations of its people. And what fast became clear was that most people in BT wanted to continue to work an average week, but to do so \u2019in a different way\u2019.<\/p>

\u2018A glance at the demographic trends, listening to what children and young people say about how the adults in their lives work, and intelligence about the attitudes of graduates and the other young people BT needs to attract as future employees and customers quickly shows how unsustainable extended commuting times and long inflexible working hours are in relation to family and personal life.<\/p>

\u2018Getting managers at all levels within BT to accept flexible working as the norm has not been without its challenges. It\u2019s been important when talking to managers and introducing flexible working to show them the evidence that proves managers using flexible working have better bottom line results than those who do not.<\/p>

\u2018To sum up: if you put flexible working practices in place, and allow your people to engage with them and develop them, you will get:\u00a0<\/p>