I bet your approach to family friendly practices at work are pretty rigid and old fashioned. Something like this?

5 days compassionate leave if someone in your direct family dies (ouch)
No compassionate leave for anything else
Unpaid time off if your child is sick
Unpaid medical appointments

That’s because we all think there’s one size HR that fits all. But I bring good news… you can pretty much do all the great things you want (as long as you’re meeting legal obligations) with the right support and attitude.

There’s a huge shift happening, employees are looking to you to show that you recognise they have a life outside of work. They want you to acknowledge that there are people they care about who might need them from time to time.

Everyone has a family and that doesn’t have to mean in the traditional sense, some people find family in their best friends and community. So it’s important you know what you mean when you’re talking about family.

So how can we make sure we’re supporting people at work when they need to be there for their family?

Do all your policies read like Shakespeare wrote them?

There is absolutely no employment law out there saying we need to write our policies in super formal language. It’s likely a lot of your policies were put together by solicitors (which is fine), you’ll be ticking every legal obligation, but don’t be scared to go through it and change the words so they actually makes sense to everyone, no matter their reading ability. You can use a readability checker online for free. We’ve likely already got one written at BTC - just ask us!

Are these policies reflective of what you actually do?

We know you’ll always pay for some extra time off if someone has a family emergency, so why don’t you just say it in writing? It can always be at your discretion, so you’re not agreeing to paid leave for an unreasonable amount of time. Writing down that you understand life happens and you’ll support everyone through the tough times is massive and it shows you’re serious about your commitment to them. (We can help you get the wording right, don’t worry)

You might want to make some big statements like paid time off for fertility treatments or legal support through divorce. Write it down and shout about it! The frequency these benefits will be called on is so low, but for those who do use them you’ll be taking a huge weight off their shoulders. Plus loyalty breeds loyalty.

Are you banging on about it?

No matter how available your documents are, or how beautifully you write them, not everyone will read them. Don’t take it personally. Think how you can get in front of people. You can take a slot in your staff meeting, host a drop in session or just go and chat to people and ask.

If you’ve got anyone who has benefitted from your policies like extended time off for caring responsibilities, new parent leave, fertility treatments etc - ask if they’d mind talking about it to other staff, it really helps others see what’s available to them, plus it’s usually a positive story so win win!

Are managers clued up and doing you proud?

To save all the weight on you to communicate everything - let’s make sure managers can speak positively about your approach to family friendly without you in the room. It’s always helpful if they have their own experiences they can draw on but if not - make sure you’ve got some dedicated training in place early doors for managers so they don’t mess it up!

Teenagers need their parents too.

A lot of focus goes into supporting parents during those first sleepless nights.Supporting them through the parenting journey all the way from the pregnancy risk assessment to when the kids graduate university won’t be under appreciated. Let your staff be good parents by letting them be flexible. We all remember when the people we loved made it to sports day or to pick us up from school every now and then or when we went to pick up our GCSE results.

It’s not all about parenting.

You’ve likely got colleagues who care for adult dependants, sometimes for short periods after an illness, or more long term. So it’s important to make sure your family-friendly benefits extend beyond parents and include any kind of caring responsibilities. You could even have a special set of flexibilities for those situations, that really shows you understand the diverse needs of various family structures.

Review and ask what people need.

Keep an ear out for what’s working or missing from you your family-friendly offerings. It’s an employees market so they really can be picky with who they work for, and it’s more and more common for people to choose lower salaries to work somewhere that will respect their commitments outside of work. Get ahead of the curve and be brilliant now.

If you fancy working together to elevate your family friendly offering just pop us a message, we’d love to work together!