Allianz Insurance UK, Finalist 2011, The National Grid Best for Flexible Working Award

A wide range of flexible working policies are available. All staff are entitled to work flexibly, not just parents and carers. The underlying notion of this is that parental responsibilities are constant irrespective of the time of day and that everyone is different in their approach to parenthood and way of dealing with its demands. Specific action has been taken to ensure that across the organisation flexibility is widely defined and is not stereotyped as just part-time working. Flexibility is built into the discussions around recruiting, and there is recognition that informal flexibility based on trust is an important aspect of the flexible working picture inside Allianz. The spread and effectiveness of flexible working policies is measured via the staff survey, which has shown increasing satisfaction with work life balance opportunities.