9th October 2024
Every year, National Work Life Week (7-11 October 2024), run by Working Families, is an opportunity to turn attention to wellbeing at work and the importance of supporting employees with caring responsibilities. This year’s theme is ‘What does Flexible Working Mean to you?’ and aims to highlight all the ways in which flexible working supports individuals and businesses alike.
This year, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) is proud to be taking part, by celebrating its ongoing work around giving colleagues greater freedoms and choice in when, where and how they work.
Despite the positive steps towards flexible and family-friendly working becoming the norm, many of the 13 million working parents and 3 million unpaid working carers in the UK don’t have the flexibility they need to manage the endless juggle between work and caring for the people they love. Many of these people are on the lowest income and many, mainly women, sacrifice careers to get the flexibility they need.
NCA has shown it doesn’t have to be this way. In their pursuit of a family-friendly and flexible culture, they have committed to supporting flexible working arrangements for all colleagues wherever possible, opening up more avenues for employees to discuss the potential for flexible working at any point in their career.
Since revising their flexible working policy last year, the NCA has recorded a shift in colleagues’ awareness of flexible working opportunities, with more requests being approved and more teams embracing flexible ways of working, such as condensed hours, four-day week, and hybrid working.
This commitment to positive employment practices has been recognised by the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, where the NCA became the first NHS organisation to receive membership status.
Trudy, Head of Patient/Service User Experience at the NCA, uses flexible working to support her caring responsibilities
Trudy said: “I have an informal flexible working arrangement at work which allows me to assist my dad, as and when required. Any time I need to take time to get him to and from hospital and make necessary calls to coordinate care etc, is honoured and respected. I feel supported by management and by my peers.”
Jane van Zyl, CEO at Working Families, said: “We’re delighted to see Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) taking the opportunity during this year’s National Work Life Week to show how committed they are to doing things differently. National Work Life is a great opportunity to shout about the benefits of flexible working and come out in praise of the immense value parents and carers add to the workplace. We’re so glad NCA are part of Working Families’ journey to help employers create environments where working parents and carers can thrive.”
National Work Life Week is run by Working Families, the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers. Working Families has been supporting family-friendly workplaces for over 40 years. The campaign is run annually at the beginning of October and is a week during which employers highlight how they support their employees’ with caring responsibilities and implement healthy and sustainable working practices.
