UK’s most family-friendly employers


Barclays Bank, the Crown Prosecution Service and Southdown Housing were three of the organisations to be named among the top 10 employers for work-life balance by charity Working Families.


The 2018 list of organisations across the UK who were chosen for leading the way in building family friendly, flexible workplaces includes: two other banks — Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland; law firm Pinsent Masons; the charity the Independent Living Fund Scotland; professional services group Deloitte; financial services company American Express; and the government body the Intellectual Property Office.


Large and small employers from across the public, private and third sector compete annually to gain a place on the list.


Participating employers have to answer in-depth questions to do with their organisational strategy and culture policies, such as how well flexible and family-friendly working is supported and the effects of flexible and family-friendly working on the organisation, and their ability to understand those effects. 


Jane van Zyl, chief executive of Working Families, said: “For these best practice employers, their flexible and family-friendly working policies supporting mothers, fathers and carers are well developed, and flexible working is becoming embedded. 


“But as our research shows, flexible working on its own is not enough to deliver work life balance for parents. What’s key to unlocking parents’ potential is a family-friendly workplace culture,” he added.


The top 30 employers list is available at: www.workingfamilies.org.uk/news/the-uks-most-family-friendly-workplaces-unveiled/