Progressive Building Society
“Juggling work and family commitments can be difficult so it is great that my employer embraces flexible working arrangements, this helps me a great deal especially when something crops up at the last minute. Wellbeing initiatives are actively promoted throughout the year, I particularly enjoyed the Eat Well Feel Well workshop which gave me plenty of ideas for healthy meals and snacks for the family”.
Alison Patterson, Business Change Analyst
In what way do family friendly initiatives benefit your organisation?
We recognise that all employees have varying and differing qualities and characteristics. We create a working environment that enables people to flourish and be the best they can be by empowering them and ensuring that everyone recognises the importance and impact of teamwork and inclusion – it is a case of maximising efforts to achieve the very best results. We are a customer-focused organisation, putting our Members at the heart of everything we do and we feel that the better the working environment for our staff, the better a service they will provide to our Members.
How has Employers For Childcare helped you / your organisation?
Employers for Childcare Vouchers have benefited some staff who have availed of the Vouchers. The Vouchers have helped to make childcare more affordable, reducing financial concerns for parents returning to work and enabling more people to further their careers.
Why did you decide to apply for the Awards?
The culture within Progressive is something which visitors comment on immediately when they visit any of our offices and we recognise that our staff are very dedicated both to the organisation and our Members. We therefore felt that it was important to recognise this through entering the awards. We also felt that it would be beneficial to hear from other companies that may provide us with some ideas for future incentives to implement. Having become the only financial institution in Northern Ireland to achieve the Gold Investors in People award in September of last year, we wanted to further recognise the working culture and ethos we instil at Progressive.
What did it mean to you winning this award?
We were absolutely delighted to win this award. We have worked hard to implement practices which will benefit our staff both in their work and home life and we were delighted that these efforts received the recognition we felt they deserved.
What did you enjoy the most about the Awards Ceremony?
We were delighted to be invited to the awards ceremony and get to meet and hear about the other organisations who have had some fantastic ideas in terms of family friendly initiatives. There was a brilliant atmosphere at the event and it provided a great opportunity for networking.
What do you hope to achieve in the future regarding family friendly policies?
We hope that achievement of this award and the ideas generated from listening to other organisations will help Progressive’s family friendly policies grow from strength to strength, further improving the lives of our staff and their families.