National Assembly named in The Times Top 50 Employers of Women in the UK
3 April 2014
The National Assembly for Wales has been named in The Times Top 50 Employers of Women in UK.
The prestigious award, which The Times runs in partnership with gender campaign group Opportunity Now, recognises the work carried out by organisations that help women continue in their careers while maintaining family and caring commitments.
“I would like to congratulate all the Assembly staff who have helped to make this award possible,” said Presiding Officer Dame Rosemary Butler AM.
“Women make up more than half of the population so we need a balanced workforce to reflect that.
“A more balanced workforce allows wider ideas and views to feed into the workplace and, I believe, produces better results.
“The Assembly has a proud record in providing all staff with opportunities to strike a better work-life balance and deserves this recognition.”
The Assembly has been specifically recognised for the way in which it provides a range of flexible working options.
They include flexible working hours, term-time working, part-time working, annualised hours, compressed hours, reduced hours and working from home.
The Assembly also provides excellent support for women who have parent or carer responsibilities, including:
generous maternity leave (26 weeks full pay, plus 13 weeks statutory);
paid Keep in Touch days for women on maternity leave;
co-parental / paternity leave (three weeks full pay including paid leave to attend ante-natal classes);
paid special leave for domestic or caring emergencies;
childcare vouchers;
reserved spaces at local nurseries; and
parental leave.
Sandy Mewies AM, Assembly Commissioner with responsibility for Equalities Issues, added: “I am proud of the Assembly’s record in this area.
“In the 21st Century women should be able to bring up families as well as pursue careers and the programme the Assembly has put in place enables its female staff to do that.”
The Assembly also has active staff networks (including a women's network) to provide additional pastoral support to staff, to promote equality and an inclusive working environment and to influence the strategic and operational direction of the organisation.
We are in the process of establishing a parent and carer staff network to provide additional support to people with caring responsibilities and those who are planning to take parental leave, are on parental leave or have returned from parental leave.
And lastly, the Assembly has exemplar learning and development opportunities such as the Management Development Programme which provides an attractive package for staff.
Kathryn Nawrockyi, Director of Opportunity Now, said: “Congratulations to National Assembly for Wales on being included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2014.
“The standard of entries was incredibly high once again, and they should be hugely proud of their success. They are a great example of strong leadership; of how putting gender equality at the core of a business can create real, sustainable change for women, organisations and society as a whole.
“I hope other employers will be inspired by their work and use it to accelerate progress for women in their workforce.”