Weekly Update: Keeping Resolutions
It’s almost the end of January, and for many people this means reflecting on the New Year’s resolutions that they made so optimistically at the beginning of the year. Some will be remaining diligent to their plans to eat better, give up smoking or save for the future, while for others these plans are already as good as abandoned.
But what about resolutions for your organisation? Here at Carer Positive, we encourage all employers to commit to making their workplaces a better and more supportive place for staff members with caring responsibilities. Doing so will benefit both working carers and the organisation as a whole.
But much like a New Year’s resolution, it can be tricky to get started with these workplace resolutions and make them habit. For best results, plenty of hard work will be required but there are a few simple steps you can take to get on the right track.
Awareness Raising
Learn about he issues that often affect people who balance caring with work and come up with ways that you can share this information with your employees. There are many options on how you can do this which can depend on how your particular organisation operates, but a few ideas include:
- Put up workplace posters
- Circulate resources for carers on your online network
- Plan an information event for Carer’s Week (7th - 13th June, 2021)
- Organise a training/ wellbeing session for staff to join
Identifying Carers in your Organisation
Taking the time to raise awareness about carers within your workplace sends a strong message that you are understanding and receptive to members of staff experiencing the challenge of juggling caring with work. This is extremely important as many people may not recognise the commitments they have as caring, while others may concerned about the negative implications of coming forward and identifying themselves.
In order to build the best kind of practical support for carers in the workplace, you need members of staff who are experiencing caring to come forward and feel comfortable talking about their situation. Creating a carers group or register in your organisation can be a great way of providing peer support, but will also allow you talk to carers about their individual circumstances and ask what the organisation can do to best support them – which should in turn provide the next steps in establishing support.
We currently have 21 organisations which have been recognised as Exemplary level Carer Positive Employers, and they all started somewhere. Don't forget to check out the rest of this website for more information and resources for supporting carers in the workplace, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need advice more specific to your organisation.