Six of the top 10 employers scoring the highest in the Working Families Benchmark and Awards, founded by Working Families in partnership with the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) are in the financial sector. Barclays, Citi, Deloitte, KPMG, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS all score highly.
The Top Employers for Working Families Benchmark and Awards, founded by Working Families in partnership with the Institute for Employment Studies, recognises employers who support parents, carers and flexible workers with work-life balance and career development.
Entrants completed a robust benchmark survey, which examines flexible working policies and practices. They can also opt to enter one or more of the Special Awards (see end of this story for details). The 2012 survey saw a number of new participants from an increasingly wide variety of industries, both private and public sector, demonstrating that flexible working is increasingly seen as a core strategic tool.
Sarah Jackson OBE, chief executive of Working Families, commented: "These employers have demonstrated how they are developing innovative policies and practices to create flexible, family-friendly cultures that support individual wellbeing and high performance.
"This list celebrates the UK's most family-friendly organisations. And it's important to remember that it's not just about working mothers, but fathers and carers too."
Jackson added that although costs and resources remain barriers, flexible working does make business sense, despite the grim economic climate, having a positive influence on issues such as absenteeism and retention.
At the awards ceremony on Tuesday, Jackson also acknowledged that despite the positive momentum, there was still work to be done, especially around the slow progress of flexible working policies for fathers as well as mothers, the need to better train managers in managing a flexible workforce and the challenge of measuring and monitoring flexible working.
The winning employers are as follows:
The Top Employers for Working Families Benchmark – The Top 30
The final list is compiled from the highest scoring entrants in the benchmark survey.
Top 10
(A-Z)
Barclays
BT
Citi
Deloitte
Hogan Lovells International
KPMG
Royal Bank of Scotland
Southdown Housing Association
The National Assembly for Wales
UBS
Top 11- 30
(A-Z)
Accenture
Allianz Insurance
American Express
Baker & McKenzie
Bank of England
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
E.ON UK
Ernst & Young
Forum for the Future
Henmans
ITV Plc
London School of Economics & Political Science
Loop Customer Management
McDonald's Restaurants
Ministry of Justice
Northern Trust
Roche Products
Simmons & Simmons
Wales & West Housing
Top 3 Small Family-friendly Businesses
Sponsored by Childcarescheme.com
Bristows
Henmans
Workplace Options
The Special Awards
Benchmark entrants could opt to enter one or more of the Special Awards. The Award entries were judged anonymously by the judging panel. The winners and special commendations for the award categories are:
The Lexington Gray Best for Flexible Working Award
Northern Trust – Winner
Best for Mothers Award
Deloitte – Winner
Citi – Commendation
Loop Customer Management – Commendation
Best for Fathers Award
Citi – Joint winner
London School of Economics and Political Science – Joint winner
Best for Carers and Eldercare Award
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Winner
BT – Commendation
Best for Career Progression for Flexible Workers Award
Wales and West Housing – Winner
The National Grid Best for Innovation Award
Citi – Winner
Accenture – Commendation
For a week starting from today, HR magazine.co.uk will be running a detailed case study each day on a top employer.
HR magazine is a media partner of 2012 Top Employers for Working Families.
