The Report is an in-depth look at what the most progressive companies are doing with regard to gender diversity and flexible working. It includes detailed interviews with the winners of the Workingmusm.co.uk’s Top Employer Awards as well as case studies. The aim is to spread best practice and ideas of what works and why.
It is published to mark the launch of the 2017 Top Employer Awards, which open for entries today.
Some of the trends to emerge from both the shortlisted and winning entrants to last year’s awards include an increased interest in policies aimed at working dads and a commitment to including men in debates around equality in the workplace, for instance, through promoting male champions and role modelling.
The report shows there has been a definite increase in work on flexible recruitment policies and a recognition that to normalise flexible working requires embedding a flexible culture from recruitment through to senior management and constantly pushing flexibility as the norm.
Employers featured in the report are setting up or embedding numerous initiatives to address the blockage in the female talent pipeline, recognising the links between leadership programmes, mentoring and sponsorship and family friendly, flexible cultures.
There is also a focus on understanding the areas of organisations where there may be particular issues around attracting and retaining women and targeting resources at them. Employers are also clear that flexible cultures stand or fall by the people who exist inside them and the training and support given to them, particularly line managers.
Those includes in the report are the winners of the 2016 Top Employer Awards:
- Overall Top Employer Award and winner of the Top Employer Award for Career Progression – Sky
- The Top Employer Award for Innovation in Flexible Working – Vodafone.
- The Top Employer Award for Best for Dads – Lloyds Banking Group.
- The Top Employer Award for Talent Attraction – Berwin Leighton Paisner.
- The Top Employers Award for Family Support – Carillion.
- The Top Employer Award for SMEs with 1-25 employees – Cuttsy and Cuttsy.
- Top Employer Award for SMEs with over 26-250 employees – Madgex.
- The Working Mums Champion Award -– Jane Magill from Macquarie Group.
The judges of the Awards were Gillian Nissim, founder of Workingmums.co.uk; Andy Lake, editor of Flexibility.co.uk; Jennifer Liston-Smith, Director of Coaching & Consultancy at My Family Care; Dave Dunbar, Head of Digital Workplace at Nationwide Building Society; and Professor Clare Kelliher from Cranfield School of Management.
Gillian Nissim, founder of Workingmums.co.uk, said: “This year’s Best Practice Report is packed with useful case studies and information on what works in the drive for greater gender diversity and equality at all levels of the workplace. We hope that it will prove useful information and food for thought for other employers and that, whatever sector an organisation may be in and whatever size they may be, there is something they might be able to borrow or tailor for their own circumstances or which might inspire them to make their work culture more agile and inclusive.”
*The Best Practice Report is attached. For more information on the 2017 Top Employer Awards, click here.
