The festive season is one of the busiest times of the year, with many competing priorities. For working families and caregivers, balancing work commitments with family needs can be trickier than ever. We spoke with Ginette Fraher-Vernon, Chair of the Elysium Working Families and Caregivers’ Employee Resource Group, about the challenges people face and the support they can access at Elysium.
“As an organisation, it’s absolutely recognised that working families and caregivers need support, and there’s been a lot of great work already taking place to help achieve that.
“At this time of year, and throughout the festive season, there’s additional pressure on everyone, and sometimes even more on those who are caregivers or a working family. People need time to prepare, get their Christmas shopping done, and there may be additional social expectations, nativity plays and Christmas concerts. While it’s all good fun, time is not elastic, and it can be difficult to fit it all in.
“Also, existing support such as nurseries, day centres or others may close or have reduced hours over the festive season, putting additional pressure on those with caring or family responsibilities alongside their work commitments.
“Employers need to be aware of these additional pressures. Our ERG is a great place to share experiences and strategies, think about how we can address these challenges positively, and for our colleagues to share the issues they may be facing, not just at Christmas, but at other times, too.
“Some of the changes we’ve seen are updates to the flexible working policy, additional support around finances and widening the benefits which are available to working families.
“The new employee engagement app – Ely-Vate – also has lots of savings on there which are available for families. That is particularly helpful at this time of year!
“The organisation has also listened to colleagues on the important issue of pay times around Christmas. Previously, people were paid early in December but which meant there was a six-week period until they were paid in January, making it difficult for some to meet their outgoing commitments. Now, payday has been pushed back to December 31st, something that’s been welcomed.
“Ely-Vate has lots of benefits for all colleagues, but which are of particular benefit to working families. There are savings on weekly shopping and tech benefits which allow families to spread the cost of buying tech, something that can be difficult to afford. It aims to make technology accessible for everyone.
“There are also opportunities to ‘buy’ additional leave, which can help with caring responsibilities for school holidays. This is alongside the Government initiative which allows people to ask for unpaid weeks in the school holidays.
“It is complex, and we have training for managers on how to review flexible working requests. Our work is not 9-5, and the needs of the people we support have to come first, but flexible working is something we very much support.
“We have just teamed with BUPA too, and there is lots of advice and support via their support line if people are really struggling with being a working family and caregiver.
“People can also come to me to ask for advice on how to get support, how to make requests to their manager and other questions. I am a firm believer in a work-life balance. If you’re not looking after yourself, you can’t give 100%. We have received really positive feedback from people on how our approach has helped them and their families. Thinking flexibly definitely benefits everyone.”
