We recognise the part that carers play within the future of work including the skills they bring. Carers are incredibly organised, have highly developed stakeholder management skills, and tend to be great at listening to and supporting others - whether that’s colleagues or customers. We recognise that caring responsibilities can fall on anyone at any time, whether short term or long-term, and wanted to support our employees with caring responsibilities.
We recognised that each region is culturally different for our carers, and that a one size fits all approach would not be appropriate. We therefore created global principles which set out how we value and support our carers. Our two key markets are the UK and Hong Kong, so we decided to create a specific version for both. This included local policies, relevant benefits and sources of information and support. We then created a global template which sets out Group wide policies and support, which some markets like the UAE have adapted to their local needs. We ensured that the charter abides with our digital accessibility guidelines and was translated into core languages. We’ve had invaluable input from our employee networks throughout the process. As a result, all our employees have access to these global policies and knowledge of where to find support both for carers and line managers.
The Charter was supported by our Global Disability Steering Committee which is comprised of senior leaders for all parts of the business. We implemented it by adding it to our Global HR system that all colleagues can access. We formally launched the resources on International Day of Care and Support which was hosted by our Group Operating Committee Employee Resource Group sponsor and our Global Head of Inclusion and supported by Carers UK. As part of the launch, our Communications team produced messaging which was promoted via our internal intranet. We shared all resources with Heads of Inclusion of business areas and regions, and added them to our Global HR system that all colleagues can access.
Don’t be afraid to do it. Going for a principles-based approach allows you to set the direction for a Global audience that can then be tweaked for local markets. Trying to build the approach bottom-up market by market would have been almost impossible. Whilst it seems a daunting task, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and it has ensured that all our Carers wherever they are located feel valued and supported.
