Top Employers for Working Families - Benchmarking Report 2011

Over the last decade social and demographic shifts have meant that organisational policies designed to balance employee family responsibilities and work commitments have become mainstream.

However, there is a vast difference between the existence of a policy and an embedded, value creating practice, aligned to an organisation’s strategic objectives.

In the current economic climate, organisations need more than ever to focus on effectiveness. Enabling your employees to deliver high performance and value is vital. High commitment strategies such as a flexible approach to working patterns and location, is a good way to approach this.

In terms of engagement and motivation, the evidence shows that well-managed flexibility elicits higher performance and the potential business benefits of flexible working on productivity, financial performance, quality, employee attraction, retention, commitment and reduced absence are well documented. Many organisations have deployed flexible working in the recession with great success.

This benchmark aims to provide data and a crucial insight into what is currently working in practice, what needs to work, and the direction of future organisational focus.