BNP Paribas – Winner 2025, Best Family Network sponsored by BlckBx
BNP Paribas have cultivated a thriving network which supports their people to rise to the challenges of being a working parent or carer. Through a strategic approach they provide support and are a strong voice to advocate for continuous progression of policies impacting carers.
Comprehensive support
Participation in the parents and carers network is actively encouraged in a variety of ways, including promotion in weekly emails, on the intranet and on large screens in shared spaces. A flagship Bring Your Child to Work Day event drives more people to get involved in the network. The community-based structure consists of focus groups that can offer peer-support and provide practical resources. Opportunities to engage are varied, with in-person meet-ups, virtual chat rooms and community forums, which enable sharing openly in a safe and secure environment. Events are broad-ranging, such as speaker events, panel discussions, fireside chats, and podcast-style interviews. Topics are informed through feedback, such as providing parents with practical advice on navigating the Education, Health and Care Plan process. The network also signposts to the broad support available within the organisation such as maternity coaching, medical cover and the 20 days of back-up childcare on offer, as well as exclusive family access to museums and galleries.
Strategic thinking
Groups within the network are instrumental in defining strategy, which spans community, policies, events and communication. Feedback is sought which informs initiatives through the year, for example focusing on the topic of teenage mental health. The network partners with other staff networks for overlapping themes, such as Neurodiversity Week, Lesbian Visibility Week and International Women’s Day. Supported by a senior business sponsor, the steering group meets regularly and as such the network is gathering momentum, increasing to an impressive 750 members. Based on feedback there are plans to continue to expand by creating new focus groups that meet diverse needs and reach a wider audience.
Driving change
The network identifies its role very much as an advocate for change in areas that are important to members. As such they’ve played an integral part in contributing to changes in policy and developing new policy and resources. Primarily, the network was central in increasing Secondary Care Givers leave from 2 to 12 weeks in 2023, worked with HR, Health and Wellbeing and Benefits teams to introduce a new maternity handbook which consolidates important information and increases transparency to the benefits available, and partnered with HR to create a Baby loss and Fertility policy. Their future plans are to create a carers policy to showcase support available, in response to the needs of carers in the network.
