Carers Week 2010 (14-20 June)
People who care can still work...
An estimated 350,000 people in Wales provide unpaid care by looking after ill, frail or disabled members of their family, and with increasing life expectancy allied to an ageing population, this number looks set to increase
Inevitably, this will impact on the working population, greater numbers of whom may find themselves taking on short or long term carer roles outside of work. Chwarae Teg, the organisation that supports the economic development of Welsh women, believes that the adoption of flexible working practices offers a practical and proven solution that can allow many employees to absorb a caring role, whilst still being able to work effectively for their employer.
As Bev Pold, Policy Manager for Chwarae Teg explains
“At Chwarae Teg we estimate that at any given time between 10 and 15% of our team are undertaking caring responsibilities. As we have a long established flexible working policy, it is possible for these responsibilities to be met whilst at the same time ensuring the job gets done.
From my own experience, my sister and I share the care of our mother who suffers with Alzheimers and Chwarae Teg’s flexible working scheme has meant that I am able to work from home when required, manage my time more effectively - and stay on top of my workload.”
Bev further explains
“Flexible working policies that allow staff to undertake their caring duties help to build goodwill in the workplace and is greatly appreciated by employees at what can often be a highly stressful time in their lives. Knowing that increasing numbers of working people are going to take on caring duties in the future, it would seem to make sense for employers, wherever possible, to introduce flexible working policies to support this.
I am delighted that through our European Social Fund and Welsh Assembly Government funded Agile Nation project we are able to offer businesses in Wales’ Convergence area impartial support to help them introduce effective flexible working practices, whilst still meeting the business needs, and I’d urge any business to visit agilenation.co.uk to find out more.”
The valuable work and contribution made by unpaid carers is being acknowledged during Carers Week (14-20 June 2010), where the theme of the week is ‘A life of my own’
Roz Williamson, Director of Carers Wales says
“Carers Week allows us to highlight some of the incredible stories of carers and show that even with a caring responsibility it is still possible to enjoy your own life, and workplace practices such as flexible working are an excellent way to help carers manage their work-life balance to everyone’s benefit.”
Links & Information
Further information about Carers Week and Chwarae Teg can be found at:
