Chwarae Teg in Top 30 Employers for
Working Families in UK

Chwarae Teg has been listed in the Top 30 Employers for Working Families in the UK, alongside major employers including McDonalds, Barclays Bank and Sainsbury's

Katy Chamberlain, Chief Executive of Chwarae Teg: Far left. Winners: Top Employers for Working Families 2011~ View the full list of illustrious Winners 2011: Top 30

Founded by the work-life charity Working Families, the awards recognise innovation and creative thinking in designing family-friendly policies. They also spread the word on best practice and encourage pioneering approaches to improving working lives and building business success

Chwarae Teg was also short-listed for the Best for Flexible Working Award, alongside major companies Allianz Insurance UK, Accenture, Dell Corporation and Centrica - the category winners.

Chwarae Teg's excellent flexible working policies caught the eye of the first round of judges earlier this year. This earned the organisation a place in the finals of the Best for Flexibility category for the following policies:

Annual leave is calculated in hours to allow maximum flexibility - staff can take 3 hours off to attend a school concert for example.
Staff can take extended leave by arrangement and use their annual leave entitlement of 40 days to take their birthday off or to take a ‘duvet day'.
Flexible start and finish times and time off in lieu apply to all staff.
Employees are encouraged to put forward new ideas for flexible working - the motto is that ‘anything is possible'!

Katy Chamberlain, Chief Executive of Chwarae Teg said:

"We are delighted to have reached the final for the second year running, having won best SME in 2010.

"For some years now Chwarae Teg has been ahead of the game on flexibility in work with a universal right to request flexible working arrangements which is impartial as to the gender of the person requesting and the reason for their request.

"The government is now consulting on the possibility of introducing a universal right to request flexible working in 2015. By that time Chwarae Teg will have been offering all staff the right to request flexible working for the best part of 10 years.

"We are delighted to see global businesses embracing flexible working and family friendly practices and are proud to be listed in the Top 30 alongside so many household names."

Also featured in the Top 30 was Wales and West Housing Association (WWHA) who provide homes and services to more than 25,000 people in 15 local authorities in Wales.

Chief Executive, Anne Hinchey said:

"We are absolutely thrilled to be named within the Top 30 Employers for Working Families in the UK, rubbing shoulders with international firms and big name brands.

"At WWHA being family friendly isn't just about having a good maternity pay package or written policies, it's about our core approach to working flexibility for all staff; whether they have children, eldercare responsibilities or other demands on their personal lives."

Read more about Wales and West Housing Association's approach to flexible working practices in our Autumn/Winter newsletter, coming soon.

As part of its work to support the economic development of women in Wales, Chwarae Teg continues to promote work-life balance practices, including flexible working, through its Work-Life Balance Network that meets across Wales and also through the Evolve programme for employers which is part of Chwarae Teg's £12million European Social Fund and Welsh Government funded Agile Nation project.