Barclays – Winner 2018, Cityparents Best Family Network Award
More than 3,200 employees are members of Barclays’ Working Families Network, which hosts a multitude of support sessions and fun events throughout the year. Covering mass appeal topics and niche areas, parents are able to utilise their work place and colleagues to support family life.
Key Points
- 3,258 members of Working Families Network
- 40% membership is male
- Family related events and sessions throughout the year
Barclays’ Working Families Network was created in 2014 by consolidating other employee networks. Since then, membership has grown by 400 per cent and 40 per cent of members are men.
The Network is run by staff volunteers. It runs information and support sessions on topics such as Shared Parental Leave, and pre and post maternity and adoption.
It recently ran a campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of job-sharing within Barclays by promoting real examples of colleagues who job-share and via a panel session for questions and answers.
The Network promotes relevant campaigns, such as Carers Week and National Work Life Week to colleagues.
It also hosts family events including the popular ‘Bring your child to work day’ just before Christmas. Last year, more than 1,000 families took part. Children enjoyed visiting their parents’ desks, making Christmas decorations and playing with ball pools and bouncy castles.
Other events have included ‘Bring your teens to work day’, which was attended by 200 14 to 16-year-olds. They had an introduction to Barclays followed by sessions on choosing a career path, applying for a first job and interview skills.
Similarly, Code Playground events have been held for 8 to 12-year-olds who enjoy a basic introduction to computer programming and robotics.
The Network also acts as a best practice group to support HR or line manager initiatives on family friendly ways of working.
The Bring Your Child to Work Day activities and entertainment were fantastic, the organisation was first-class and to think that this was completely colleague run, by colleagues who just wanted to do this for other people was absolutely brilliant.
Kathleen Britain. Director, Private Bank and Overseas Services, and Working Families Network UK member