The winners of the 2017 Mumsnet Family Friendly Awards have been announced at a ceremony hosted by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Comment from Justine Roberts, Mumsnet – Founder and CEO.
Unilever won the inaugural Mumsnet Employer of the Year Award, a newly-introduced category for 2017. Unilever was a clear winner, based on responses from almost 1,000 staff surveys completed by the employees of Mumsnet Family Friendly programme members, ranking them on their family friendly policies – how they were communicated, how aware of the policies staff were and how the staff rated their employer.
Deloitte won the first Mumsnet Returnship Award, another new category for 2017. The new award has been created to shine a light on companies who are leading the way with excellent returnship programmes to encourage and support parents who want to come back to work after having a child. All entrants for the returnship award were required to have operated a formal, paid returnship programme in the last two years. Tideway and Fidelity were shortlisted for the returnship award. Comment from Justine Roberts, Mumsnet – Founder and CEO.
Matalan won the Mumsnet Family Friendly Innovation Award, which celebrates originality and leadership in the field of family-friendly practices and is voted for by Mumsnet users. The retailer won the award for their Baby Nurture rooms – specially designed rooms to make it easier for parents to shop with their young children. The calming, clean and safe rooms are designed for babies to be fed and changed, with pre-school toys on hand to keep toddlers entertained without leaving them too excitable. Matalan plans to roll the Baby Nurture rooms in all 60 of its refurbished stores this year, and in the majority of stores by 2018. McDonalds and Yoti were contenders for the innovation award.
Mumsnet’s Family Friendly programme seeks to celebrate companies who are taking strides in family friendliness for their people – showing leadership in flexibility, returnships, policies like parental leave. Since the programme started in 2011, around 2 million employees have been involved. Mumsnet Founder and CEO Justine Roberts said: “This has been the year of the returnship, and it’s been exciting to see so many employers embracing the idea with real enthusiasm. Our Family Friendly programme continues to evidence the innovatory thinking of the best employers. Many congratulations to all the award winners and the runners-up.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Congratulations to all the winners of these fantastic awards. These businesses are setting the benchmark for flexible working and family-friendly working conditions – an issue that is incredibly close to my heart. I hope these awards inspire more businesses to create truly family-friendly working environments.”
Emma Codd, Managing Partner for Talent, Deloitte said: “Deloitte is thrilled to be recognised by Mumsnet for its Return to Work programme, which launched in 2014 and was an industry first. Since then, the increasing number of returnship programmes shows that UK businesses are beginning to recognise that there’s a large pool of talented women (and men) who have taken a break from their careers, whether for family or other reasons. Deloitte’s Return to Work programme is one of a number of things that we have introduced as part of our work to ensure that we have a gender balanced firm.”
Laura Oxton, Head of HR, Matalan said: “We’re thrilled to have won the Family Friendly Innovation Award. Our specially designed Baby Nurture rooms were launched within the kidswear sections of our refurbished stores. We didn’t want our customers to feel they couldn’t shop comfortably with their families and small babies, so we introduced the nurture rooms to allow mum and baby a well-earned rest. We’re so proud to be a value retailer with family at its heart and we’re so proud of this award.”
