Family Friendly Employer Awards 2019

South Eastern Regional College was crowned overall winner at the 2019 Awards, and also won the ‘Public Sector’ category, which was sponsored by Insight.Out. Overall, this was a really high quality entry, showing innovation, progression, timelines, statistics, evidence of planning for the future as well as effective methods of communicating and connecting with employees. In short, South Eastern Regional College proved how and why it goes above and beyond to provide a family friendly environment for its employees.

The Highly Commended in this category was Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. This organisation made a real impression on all of the judges – despite budget restraints they have gone above and beyond the statutory requirements with summer schemes, time off for fertility treatment, extended maternity leave, carer’s support network frameworks and the Let’s Talk Dementia Café.

A new entrant this year, Footprints Women’s Centre picked up the Social Enterprise Award, sponsored by Ulster University, by demonstrating an innovative range of initiatives and support in place for employees. All of the judges were particularly impressed with the good range of subsidised childcare for staff and their ambitious plans for the next three years.

Clanrye Group were the Highly Commended organisation in this category – in recognition of how they had increased their health and well being initiatives in the past year, and their responsiveness to staff needs.

Advice NI picked up the Charity Award, which was sponsored by Henderson Foodservice. The judges liked their honesty in addressing the challenges in dealing with a lot of changes facing the organisation, but still showing the commitment from the senior management team for the health and well being of their employees.

The Highly Commended Award in the charity category went to Choice Housing – they showed how they were responsive to employee requests and had introduced additional staff leave, as well as placing a strong focus on health and well being through the appointment of health and well being champions.

A very worthy winner of the Small Private Sector category was Adventures Day Nursery. The judges were unanimous that this was an excellent application that was well structured and written. Despite a limited budget, the judges simply couldn’t see much more that they could do. They could feel the passion for supporting their staff, recognising the daily pressures on the staff and offering ‘Fun in the Sun’ and ‘Snow-good’ days!

The Highly Commended Award went to Gilbert-Ash Ltd. The judges liked that they had a Family Friendly Champion. They showed how they are very responsive to employee suggestions such as email downtime and the opportunity to purchase extra holidays.

The Medium Private Sector Winner, sponsored by Citi, was TODD Architects. This organisation really stood out for the judges, demonstrating an excellent range of family friendly initiatives catering for over 70 people in two locations.

The Highly Commended winner in the Medium Private Sector category was Sleepy Hollow Group. The judges found this company had some really interesting initiatives such as their training academy, the offer of financial advice, supporting staff with dyslexia, as well as their four day week.

The Large Private Sector category, sponsored by Michelin Development Ltd, was awarded to Citi, who were recognised for their wide range of enhanced family friendly and well being initiatives including a parental toolkit, workshops for expectant parents, emergency childcare / care service and family travel insurance.

Lagan Specialist Contracting Group were the Highly Commended entry in the Large Private Sector category. The judges liked the good range of initiatives and response to the needs of the employees, including those working away from home. The future plans with the onsite gym and employee benefits were also acknowledged.