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Family Friendly Workplace Case Study: HCF Australia

Family Friendly Workplaces aim to improve work life wellbeing, inclusion and equity outcomes for families by introducing a set of certifiable National Work + Family Standards for employers. As proud supporting partners, KidsCo helps organisations in terms of Family Care Standards with our School Holiday and Virtual Care Programs to support working parents and carers.

HCF Australia shared their experience with Family Friendly Workplaces below:

Point of Difference

Share a family friendly workplace initiative that your organisation excels with and the impact it is having on the workplace culture?

Since the onset of the global pandemic the lines between work and home life have become increasingly blurred. In particular, we recognised the significant challenges HCF families were facing due to the extended lockdown periods and having to juggle work, home and carer responsibilities.

 

To support our people, one initiative HCF launched was ‘KidsCo’, in partnership with Parents At Work. KidsCo is a virtual program designed to provide safe socialisation for children aged 5–12 years from the comfort of their own home. The program offered all HCF families access to qualified school teachers who engaged the children in high-quality learning activities, with a focus on fun. The online learning ran for two hours each day, giving parents and carers two hours of uninterrupted, child-free time each day to help them balance their work and family commitments.

 

The timely launch of KidsCo was key, as it gave parents comfort in knowing that despite the ongoing restrictions, their children were still able to engage in fun, educational and social activities. Our families appreciated the extra assistance during what was a stressful time for many, with parents commenting on the fantastic impacts it had on their kid’s wellbeing as well as their own.

 

This program was a great demonstration of HCF’s commitment to providing family friendly initiatives and seeking to understand the changing needs of our parents, grandparents and carers alike.

How

How have you seen your people respond to this initiative (above)?

The feedback from our HCF families was overwhelmingly positive, with many parents commenting on not only the benefits to them, but also the significant wellbeing and social benefits for their children. The great uptake of the program resulted in HCF repeatedly extending the KidsCo offering period to support the increased employee demand during lockdown. Overall, KidsCo provided support to over 85 HCF families with more than 1400 hours of learning and fun delivered.

Outcomes

What are some of the business benefits you see from being a family inclusive organisation?

At HCF, we believe in the power of a diverse and inclusive workplace. We know that to deliver the best outcomes for our members, we need to enable a workforce who are engaged, connected and supported. That’s why we’ve invested in a wide range of programs that focus on support for the whole family through practical tools and expert advice. Some of the health and wellbeing programs we’ve made available to all employees, include partnerships with Calm Kid Central, Parents At Work, Snug Health App, PHYSCH2U, EAP, Woebot and ThisWayUp.

Employee Story

Bryant Da Silva, Head of Claims Operations

To quote my wife, ‘KidsCo was a lifesaver!’ We’re a family of four, with two awesome boys aged five and three years old. This was our first lockdown experience where my youngest was in kindergarten and my wife and I both working busy corporate roles. With schools closed, it was difficult to juggle our work and home responsibilities, and it can be easy to sometimes feel like you’re not doing enough at home or at work.

 

At first we weren’t sure what to expect when HCF offered KidsCo, but thought why not give it a go, if nothing else it might just help to break up the routine! My son was a little shy at first, but the facilitators were fantastic and quickly got him involved in the fun activities and before long he was connecting with other kids and telling them stories about his favourite toys. I was really impressed with the virtual games and activities they came up with, from designing custom Pokemon symbols to creating a mini stage to act out a play with his action figurines. Whilst we were within reach in case he needed support, KidsCo gave us some much needed space to focus on work, or to take a break.

 

I feel very fortunate to work for an organisation that takes family support seriously and understands the importance of work life balance. When people are happy, you can tell they’re more engaged and motivated in their day-to-day work and this ultimately leads to better outcomes for them, the team and our members.

 

Read the full case study on the Family Friendly Workplace website here.

Chat to us about how we can support your working families and help your organisation get certified here.

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30 March 2022

Family Friendly Workplace Case Study: Colin Biggers & Paisley

 

What is Family Friendly Workplaces?

‍Parents At Work and UNICEF Australia have united with industry and community leaders to develop National Work + Family Standards in a response to results of the National Working Families Report and the impact of COVID-19 on families and workplaces. The aim in establishing these standards is to educate employers, provide a framework and guidelines, develop and certify employees.

Family Friendly Workplaces aim to improve work life wellbeing, inclusion and equity outcomes for families by introducing a set of certifiable National Work + Family Standards for employers. As proud supporting partners, KidsCo helps organisations in terms of Family Care Standards with our School Holiday and Virtual Lockdown Care Programs to support working parents and carers.

 

Colin Biggers & Paisley shared their experience with Family Friendly Workplaces below:

Why is your organisation committed to be a family friendly workplace?

One of the strengths of our practice is the way we look after each other, and at the heart of this are our values of loyalty, respect, balance, and integrity. We understand that many of our people have parenting and caring responsibilities that often intertwine with their roles at work, even more so with the Covid lens applied.

 

Being recognised as a Family Friendly Workplace will help us continue to build a positive and inclusive culture where open communication about finding balance is encouraged. At CBP we understand that life changes when someone becomes a parent or a carer –priorities shift, balance at work becomes even more important, time becomes a more precious commodity and values can shift. We want to continue to support our people with these competing priorities.

 

Being formally recognised as a Family Friendly Workplace will also help us continue to attract and retain the best talent, an important strategic objective for our practice.

 

Point of Difference

Share a family friendly workplace initiative that your organisation excels with and the impact it is having on the workplace culture?

 

Wellbeing

At the centre of our Strategic Plan is our purpose to collectively build and secure the future of our clients, colleagues and community. At the core of this purpose is a commitment to maintaining an environment that is safe, respectful and supports our people to be the best version of themselves whilst contributing to the success of our practice. To achieve this, we must create balance and foster their general wellbeing.

 

A commitment to foster and maintain physical, mental, social and environmental health and safety will see our practice continue to support and grow high performing teams, reduce lost productivity, and substantially improve the wellbeing of our people. It is a chance to:

  • Improve morale and engagement;
  • Collaborate within and across teams and build social networks;
  • Increase productivity;
  • Reduce absenteeism;
  • Strengthen job satisfaction.

 

Distributed and Flexible Work

Our Distributed and Flexible Working Guidelines were implemented to help guide our transition back to the office during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our approach to distributed and flexible working was aligned to our approach to the pandemic which was ensuring our people remain safe, productive and connected so that we continue to achieve our strategic goals. Each role was categorised and this meant that nearly all of our roles could be performed remotely. This was a huge shift for our practice and it gave our leaders and people a framework to work within to ensure that flexibility continued while continuing to meet the needs of our clients.

 

Back Up Child Care Allowance

In 2016 we implemented our Back Up Childcare Allowance Policy to show our commitment to supporting our employees and their families. This policy provides a daily financial allowance to the employee where their usual work pattern has been distributed due to work commitments or their regular childcare arrangement was unavailable to assist with the costs of day-care or a nanny.

 

Families@CBP

In 2020 we relaunched our Parental Leave Program and created Families@CBP. The priority for this program is to create a positive and inclusive culture where open communication about balancing family life is encouraged. We understand that everyone has unique needs and our Families@CBP program is tailored to provide support to each individual and their own personal circumstances.  As part of this program, we partnered with Parents at Work to provide our people with expert Executive Coaches to assist with the transition on to parental leave, while on leave and when returning from leave.

 

KidsCo Program

We wanted to make life a little bit easier for our working parents in lockdown so we partnered with KidsCo to deliver a special virtual kids after school program. The program was available to everybody and ran for two weeks.

Forty one kids attended the KidsCo program and we received great feedback from our employees. It was a great opportunity for the kids to make new friends and connect with other kids of parents at Colin Biggers & Paisley.

 

Read the full case study on the Family Friendly Workplace website

Chat to us about how we can support your organisation in becoming family-friendly here

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30 October 2021

5 simple ways to ease the transition back into the office!

 

The modern-day dilemma – finding the right balance between remote working and bringing the team back to the office. When it comes to remote work, not having to worry about the commute to work, spending time with the kids and the extra hours in the day to indulge in your hobbies is godsent! 

We know it’s difficult to entice employees back into the office, but the list of benefits from working in a collaborative office space is pretty swell. What are they? Well, building deeper connections with your colleagues and having an exceptionally interactive team are the BIG ticket items! Virtual meetings and bantering with teammates online doesn’t beat the real deal of seeing their lovely faces in person. 

Bringing teams back into the office isn’t about monitoring them, but rather ensuring you reestablish office culture and provide the right set-up for organisational success – we’re sure you’ve hit a little road bump in this space with your team isolated and WFH. 

So what’s it going to take? Well, you’re in luck because today we bring to you five awesome ideas to encourage your team back to the office.

1. Fuelling social interaction with social events!

We squeal with excitement whenever we hear SOCIAL EVENTS – it’s the reward you look forward to throughout the week and the ultimate stress reliever. It’s a great way to band different teams together, improve organisational culture, and employee wellbeing. Talk about a motivation booster and brightening up an average workday, who wouldn’t love coming into the office to blow off some steam with your awesome colleagues. Do it entirely in your company’s style! Here are a few ideas:

  • Team catered or restaurant lunches 
  • Free coffee vouchers 
  • Friday night drinks and happy hour
  • In-office group yoga and wellness sessions 
  • Office team sports 
  • Office scavenger hunt
  • Breakfast clubs
  • Monthly birthday celebrations 

2. Revamp the office! 

Get your staff excited about coming to work! Create an unbeatable workplace environment, we’re talking ergonomic chairs, spacious desks, clean amenities, fresh furniture, stunning breakout areas and there’s just something about green plants that breathe life into any space – that ought to put a WFH set-up to shame. 

We know how easy it is to get side-tracked when WFH and the importance of a bright, clean, and inspiring workspace for productivity – your employees are well aware. Transforming your office into an ideal workplace will make the transition 10x more appealing. 

3. Career and personal development training and workshops 

Among the most-wanted employee benefits, we have career and personal development! We’re all trying to learn and flourish to perform in our roles to the best of our abilities. Providing in-house training, soft-skill workshops, or career development sessions with mentors and guest speakers are a great way to engage your staff and draw employees into the office. 

4. Make the commute to and from the office as seamless as possible 

Employees consider traveling to and from work ‘wasted time’ in their day, and it’s an absolute pain if your office is off the map! There’s a couple of things to consider being location, convenience, and cost! An accessible office in close proximity with plenty of transport options, organising free parking or subsidising travel can help make your employee’s commute to work a little more stress-free and cost-effective. 

5. Create an inclusive family-friendly workplace!

It’s no secret that remote working has meant more time around the kids for parents! We know change can be a little daunting and 65% of parents state that childcare was the reason they wanted to continue working from home [1]. The reluctance to return can be linked to the lack of support offered by employers! 

KidsCo’s school holiday programs can ease the transition back to the office for working parents by allowing them to stay connected in their children’s lives and eliminate that sense of guilt that consumes them during the school holidays when work takes priority. 

KidsCo’s program embodies the “bring your kids to work” concept but instead, our qualified school teachers keep the kids engaged with non-stop action and entertainment. We literally bring the FUN space to your office space! Forget about scrambling to find childcare alternatives, parents can now enjoy some in-office productivity whilst having their little legends right next door – this means family bonding time and lunch dates with the kids aren’t off the table! 

Creating a family-friendly workplace promotes an exceedingly inclusive culture for all employees; regardless of whether they are parents! At the heart of inclusivity is allowing people to feel comfortable with bringing their ‘whole-self’ to work! 

Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment – you won’t know what works for you until you give it a red hot go! 

 

Find out how KidsCo’s onsite programs can help you bring your team back to the office below

 Bring your team back!

 

[1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2021/04/02/struggles-for-working-parents-are-likely-to-remain-post-pandemic/?sh=68cca3216856

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27 October 2021

The importance of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace – here’s what you can do!

 

You’re suddenly bombarded with three urgent deadlines due by EOD, combined with meetings on meetings; and if you throw in family and personal commitments – it’s the ultimate recipe for disaster. We’ve all been there – the immense burnout, feelings of hopelessness and stress overload isn’t a pleasant feeling. If you’re experiencing this, the sad reality is that your employees are too.

1 in 5 Australian employees have taken time off from work in the last 12 months because they were feeling mentally unwell and 45% of employees will have experienced some type of mental health condition in their lifetime according to ABS [1].

With an increased prevalence of individuals experiencing mental strain, particularly during extended lockdowns, it’s critical to identify the signs and unveil ways to promote mental wellbeing in the workplace. As we approach mental health awareness month in Australia we thought it was befitting to unpack the topic, the impacting factors, and ways you can support!

Factors impacting employee mental wellbeing and the consequences

There are a plethora of factors that affect mental wellbeing in the workplace but common variables are high or low job demand; lack of support in the workplace; poor working relationships and environment; organisational change; traumatic events; and the one on the rise, remote working [2].

So what’s impacting your employee’s mental health at work and what are you currently doing about it?

When you don’t adequately support mental health, it trickles down to the wider organisation, we’re talking poor productivity, working relationships, employee engagement and retention and there’s more to add to that list. The ramifications of simply sweeping mental health issues under the rug is $10.9 billion – that’s how much it costs Australian organisations per year. That’s $4.7 billion in absenteeism, $6.1 billion in presenteeism, and $146 million in compensation claims [3]!

Ways you could help promote mental health and wellness in the workplace

There are many ways you can support your employees and there’s no one size fits all but here are some tips that work for us!

  1. Start the conversation!

Check-in with your staff, normalise chatting about mental health and continue building awareness. Cultivating a healthy workplace culture will allow your employees to be more open to having these difficult conversations with you – not everything has to be about work so make the effort to get to know your staff members.

  1. Listen to your employees!

Many organisations conduct employee surveys, questionnaires, or face-to-face interviews to gain insight into how their employees feel at work. This data can be incredibly useful in identifying the causes of mental fatigue, understand what matters most to your employees and can help shape future initiatives.

  1. Understand the importance of work-life balance!

Work pressure is the number mechanism causing work-related stress! Huge tip: don’t overwork your employees. Great workplaces prioritise work-life balance and delegate manageable workloads to reduce burnout. You really can’t have a productive, efficient and profitable workforce unless you take care of your employees first and foremost.

  1. Don’t forget to fuel social interaction and stay connected as we shift towards remote working!

It’s so easy to feel disconnected and lonely while working from home. Ensure you continue to collaborate and communicate effectively to promote a sense of togetherness. Virtual catch-ups to keep up to date with teammates, team building activities such as fun trivia nights or cheeky virtual drinks can work to maintain a positive work culture and mean a lot to your employees.

At KidsCo, mental wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do and drives our commitment to impact the lives of thousands of carers and children in leading organisations across Australia. As schools close and parents work from home, our mission has been to alleviate the stresses of juggling work and family through our virtual support programs.

To give parents a much-needed break or some time to power through their day, our incredible teachers keep the kids engaged with some interactive virtual entertainment. It’s made lockdown more enjoyable for the little ones who feel the impact of isolation and has been a lifeline for parents balancing both roles at home.

Find out more about how you can support your working carers here.

[1] State of Workplace Mental Health in Australia, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2F

[2] https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/topic/mental-health#mental-health-in-the-workplace
[3]www.headsup.org.au%2Fdocs%2Fdefault-source%2Fresources%2Fbl1270-report—tns-the-state-of-mental-health-in-australian-workplaces-hr.pdf%3Fsfvrsn%3D8&clen=755626&chunk=true

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28 September 2021

Family Friendly Workplace Case Study: TPG Telecom

 

What is Family Friendly Workplaces?

‍Parents At Work and UNICEF Australia have united with industry and community leaders to develop National Work + Family Standards in a response to results of the National Working Families Report and the impact of COVID-19 on families and workplaces. The aim in establishing these standards is to:

‍Educate employers
on the importance of embracing family friendly policies and practices as an enabler of workplace diversity and inclusion, health and wellbeing

‍Provide a framework and guidelines
for employers to foster a family friendly workplace culture

‍Develop
a sustainable way of providing employers with ongoing best practice work + family research, policies and guidance

‍Certify employers
that meet core standards and recognise those that go above and beyond as an Employer of Choice

‍Family Friendly Workplaces aim to improve work life wellbeing, inclusion and equity outcomes for families by introducing a set of certifiable National Work + Family Standards for employers. As proud supporting partners, KidsCo helps organisations in terms of Family Care Standards with our School Holiday and Virtual Lockdown Care Programs to support working parents and carers.

‍

TPG Telecom shared their experience with Family Friendly Workplaces below:

Why is TPG Telecom committed to be a family friendly workplace?

What the last year has taught us is that flexibility is crucial to support our people in enabling how we move forward and in embracing our new hybrid way of working. While COVID-19 normalised flexibility through working from home, we know flexibility is much more than that for our people.

We wanted to support our working parents and carers during the stressful school holiday period by providing them with the flexibility and convenience they need to balance work and family responsibilities whether they’re at the workplace or working from home.

 

What makes your organisation family friendly? What family inclusive programs, practices and processes does your organisation currently have in place?

TPG Telecom has partnered with KidsCo Australia to deliver a school holiday program offering flexibility and support to our TPG Telecom parents and carers both onsite in the office and virtually when parents are working from home through our hybrid work model.‍

Parents have had the struggle of finding care arrangements, leaving work early and feeling disconnected from their children during the school holidays. Our parents and carers have since been able to experience 7-8 hours of guilt-free productivity time with their children attending KidsCo. This allows them to use their well-deserved leave when they can actually unwind and enjoy quality family time.

 

Read the full case study on the Family Friendly Workplace website

Chat to us about how we can support your organisation in becoming family-friendly here

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31 August 2021

Let’s talk about diversity, equality & inclusion – how Cotton On Group has promoted DEI in the workplace

 

We constantly hear about diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace and some organisations even form committees that are solely devoted to advocating DEI.

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Let’s explore what it means, the benefits, and how Cotton On Group have found the DEI sweet spot.

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So, what is DEI? 

DEI also known as EDI or DIE refers to equal treatment and opportunity regardless of factors such as race, age, gender, sexuality, or other characteristics, as well as establishing a sense of belonging for all individuals within an organisation [1]. Companies are starting to invest more time, effort, and money in this space given the positive implications of creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams.

 

We love the following quote by Liz Fosslein as it encapsulates the essence of diversity and inclusion:

“Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.”

 

The benefits of implementing DEI initiatives 

When organisations prioritise and embrace DEI, the benefits that align are boundless. Companies that value DEI experienced a 20% growth in innovation; a 35% increase in productivity; and were more profitable when compared to businesses that had substantially lower diversity [2]. We can infer through past research and studies that DEI-focused workplaces are better equipped to produce higher-performing, happier, more innovative, and engaged employees – the statistics don’t lie!

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You’ll also find that inclusive family-friendly workplaces supporting their working carers have greater success in achieving a fairer gender-balanced workforce, as most primary carers leave, 95% to be exact, are taken by women [3].

So yes – DEI is quite a big deal, as it should be in today’s modern era.

 

The Cotton On Group way of promoting DEI  

We sat down (virtually) with Cotton On Group’s HR expert, Michelle Welsh to learn about the exciting initiatives that promote DEI in her workplace. Michelle sheds light on the changes to DEI throughout her 13 years at Cotton On Group; the successes and challenges; and provides some valuable tips to help you get started on your DEI journey.

Watch the full webinar with Michelle and KidsCo’s Co-founder Laynton Allan as they unpack DEI in the video below:

 

[1] https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/diversity-equity-inclusion-work

[2]https://diversity-inclusion-speakers.com/news/tips-and-tricks/benefits-diversity-inclusion-workplace-statistics/

[3] https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/employers-need-to-care-more-about-carers

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19 August 2021

Family Friendly Workplace Case Study: carsales

 

What is Family Friendly Workplaces?

‍Parents At Work and UNICEF Australia have united with industry and community leaders to develop National Work + Family Standards in a response to results of the National Working Families Report and the impact of COVID-19 on families and workplaces. The aim in establishing these standards is to:

‍Educate employers
on the importance of embracing family friendly policies and practices as an enabler of workplace diversity and inclusion, health and wellbeing

‍Provide a framework and guidelines
for employers to foster a family friendly workplace culture

‍Develop
a sustainable way of providing employers with ongoing best practice work + family research, policies and guidance

‍Certify employers
that meet core standards and recognise those that go above and beyond as an Employer of Choice

‍

Family Friendly Workplaces aim to improve work life wellbeing, inclusion and equity outcomes for families by introducing a set of certifiable National Work + Family Standards for employers. As proud supporting partners, KidsCo helps organisations in terms of Family Care Standards with our School Holiday and Virtual Lockdown Care Programs to support working parents and carers.

‍

carsales shared their experience with Family Friendly Workplaces below:

Why is your organisation committed to be a family friendly workplace?

We’re committed to be a family friendly workplace because it aligns with our passion for fostering a culture of inclusivity for all.  We want everyone at carsales to feel a sense of belonging and respect, and to have equal access to opportunities no matter what their personal circumstances may be. We celebrate and respect all the diverse qualities of our team – this includes, but is not limited to, their age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status, ethnicity, family and caring responsibilities, religious beliefs, disability, diversity of thought, or knowledge and skillset. After all, it’s these diverse characteristics that not only give us a wide range of perspectives and innovative ideas, but also accurately represent our diverse customer base – which helps to propel us forward to achieve our purpose. Put simply, we wouldn’t be able to achieve great things around the world if we were all the same. And being inclusive and supportive of our team members with children and associated family and caring responsibilities forms a big part of this.

 

At carsales we aim to be an organisation where people can grow their experience and careers regardless of what stage of life they may be at. Being recognised as a family friendly workplace will help ensure we have all the right support mechanisms in place to help our people reach their full potential as their personal and professional lives change. A significant portion of the paid workforce in Australia are tasked with simultaneously juggling careers and caring responsibilities, so it’s important that workplaces such as ours are committed to supporting our working parents, as well as those with disability and/or elder care responsibilities. Being certified as a family friendly workplace will also assist us in setting a benchmark of best practice guidelines and an action plan so that we can continue to evolve and further embed family friendly practices into our already supportive workplace culture.

 

We feel that being recognised as a family friendly workplace will be of particular benefit to our female team members, as these practices will allow us to continue to support, grow and develop them. As a digital business, we’re passionate about doing everything we can to improve the underrepresentation of females in technology-based roles. We’ve been driving our diversity strategy for seven years and place a particular focus on gender equality for this reason. We’ve been recognised as a WGEA Employer of Choice since 2015 and being formally acknowledged as a family friendly workplace will further help us to be recognised as an inclusive and supportive workplace that both welcomes and embraces women with family caring responsibilities. Many mothers want to pursue careers alongside raising their children and we want them to be supported by us in every way possible to be able to do this.

Point of Difference

Share a family friendly workplace initiative that your organisation excels with and the impact it is having on the workplace culture?

 

As an organisation we recognise what a difficult time school holidays can pose for families with caring responsibilities. We have a culture that allows people to make the flexible working requests they need throughout the year to suit the changing demands of their personal lives. However, to further support working parents during school holiday periods, we have partnered with KidsCo since 2018 to provide on-site and more recently, virtual, school holiday programs.

 

We further support carsales parents by subsidising the cost of this program by 60% with parents just paying the remaining fee for placement.

In our most recent employee opinion survey, 92% of our employees responded positively when asked to assess the flexibility carsales offers when it comes to their work/life balance.

We also know the value and importance of this program from all the anecdotal employee feedback that we receive, and are pleased to be able to provide this innovative childcare solution to our teams.

How have you seen your people respond to the above initiative?

 

This initiative has been really well received by our people and due to its popularity, we have been able to increase the number of days per year the program runs.

 

Sharon Koh, Head of Tax and Treasury, says of her experience with KidsCo:

 

KidsCo holiday program has been a great benefit of working at carsales and has taken some of the pressure off my family during the school holidays. As a full-time working mother, it is great that I can bring my son to work and there is a fun and engaging program he can get involved in. He really looks forward to coming into work with me during this period and having a service like this really does make for a much easier juggle between work and family.

 

Read the full case study on the Family Friendly Workplace website

Chat to us about how we can support your organisation in becoming family-friendly here

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16 August 2021

Is your organisation compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA)?

 

Gender Equality and what does WGEA seek to achieve?

We want equal rights for all genders! This isn’t a phenomenon that can miraculously happen overnight in the workplace – we’d hope everyone’s moral compass veers in the right direction but that’s not always the case and so organisations need to be held accountable.

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Time for some hard-hitting stats: The current gender pay gap stands at 13.4% and only 32% of women are in key management positions [1]. Biased hiring and pay decisions and the lack of flexibility or support for female carers are the few reasons that have trampled career progression and are the root of the gender pay gap. We needed to do BETTER and so the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) was born in 2012. In order to improve gender equality outcomes, WGEA requires companies with more than 100 employees to report and companies with over 500 employees to comply with the minimum standards which we will unpack further below.

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Interesting fact: Proactive companies committed to serving gender equality can be formally acknowledged as an ‘Employer of Choice’. On the contrary, if you’ve been non-compliant, I’ve got some bad news for you – welcome to the blacklist and goodbye righteous brand reputation. Each year, WGEA reveals all the companies that have failed to comply. You can lose eligibility to tender for contracts or receive government grants if you haven’t followed the WGEA rules!

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Is your company compliant with WGEA’s minimum standard? 

‍Below are the four key areas in WGEA’s minimum standard that you should pay close attention to:

 

  1. Workplace composition to support gender equality

You’ll need to advocate gender equality in one of the following areas: recruitment, retention, performance management, promotion, identification of talent and high potential employees, succession planning, training and development, and gender equality overall.

  1. Gender pay equity

You’ve got to make sure there’s a remuneration strategy so there’s no biases in pay decisions. We want to close the gender pay gap!

  1. Support for Carers

Do you have a strategy to support carers in your workplace? This could be through flexible working arrangements, additional leave entitlements or perhaps KidsCo school holidays programs?

  1. Preventative measures for sex-based harassment‍

Don’t forget to devise and implement policies and strategies that prevent gender-based harassment in the workplace.

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Find out more on the WGEA website here.

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How can KidsCo help your organisation with WGEA’s minimum standards?

KidsCo has helped over 75 companies in the ‘Carers Support’ space when reporting to WGEA. In partnership with leading organisations such as PWC, Toyota, and Cotton On Group, we’ve provided onsite and virtual school holiday programs to relieve the stress on working parents who are frantically sourcing alternative childcare or taking unnecessary leave during this time.

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With 1 in 4 women considering leaving or altering their career as a result of caring responsibilities, it’s absolutely critical for organisations to implement a strategy that supports carers [2]. Our school holiday programs have hit the nail on the head and have been a major success – it’s lended a helping hand in workplace diversity and inclusion; employee mental health and wellbeing; and talent acquisition and retention.

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Our client Bunnings found that the mental health of their employees improved from 64% to 92% in the period KidsCo was running and through a wider lens 92% of parents overall felt more valued by their workplace when they were offered KidsCo as an employee benefit.

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Join our free webinar with Michelle Welsh, Head of Remuneration, People Operations at Cotton On Group to learn how they’re supporting Diversity, Inclusion and Equality

Register here.
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[1] https://www.wgea.gov.au/women-in-leadership

[2] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/women-leaving-workforce-downshifting-careers-covid-19-report/story?id=73310740

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12 May 2021

5 Things KidsCo do to make our workplace fun, engaging and productive!

 

Possibly one of the hottest topics discussed within workplace culture – what makes a fun, engaging and productive workplace?‍

With the varying interests and hobbies that can be found in an office,  it can be difficult to find common practices that suit everyone.  However, we’ve found there are some daily activities that the whole office can enjoy and works for us. We use all of these five practices to make up our fun and productive office atmosphere!

 

1. You are the product of the people you spend most of your time with

The people we surround ourselves with influence the environment and culture we work in. We have a rule in our office when looking to take on more talent and that is, we base our employees off three things: character, chemistry and competence. We place the most value on the character and the chemistry of the individual, as these can’t be taught, competence can. The personality and culture in an office play a huge part in having a fun, engaging and productive workplace.  Starting out with this attitude has allowed for the team to enjoy each other’s time and company in work meetings and strategy sessions. It has seen us take a “workation” where we worked from a holiday house for three days and enjoyed a mini-vacation whilst there.

 

2. Heads down, pens up

We call this Power Time, and it comes in bouts. We have free-flowing conversations within our office which means that we can sometimes get off track with all the fun! To combat this, we assign 20 minutes at a time to put our heads down and focus. Emails and Slack are the only forms of conversing (client phone calls are an exception) allowed and if someone breaks the rule, they owe everyone lunch. It has proved to work well within our office with the extra competition adding the element of fun.

 

3. Smelling the roses

Smelling the roses entails celebrating both the small wins as well as the big ones. This is a philosophy we try to implement within our workplace. When something good happens for the company, no matter how small, we take a few minutes to high five the team and soak it in.  It might even be celebrating a big win over a Friday team lunch. A  workplace must ensure that it credits the team for even those small wins in the workplace because that is was is what gives way to those big wins. Enjoying the wins together makes us feel connected to the company and strive to make more things happen to enjoy that time again.

 

4. Stop, recharge, refresh

When we want the team to be energised and productive, we encourage regular breaks and away from their desk. Sounds counterproductive right? But having the team refreshed means our minds are clear to attack the job at hand with better efficiency and effectiveness. Encouraging breaks can come in different forms; this may include scheduling meditation as a team for 10 minutes each day,  grabbing coffee or going for a walk around the block. A more refreshed team yields more productive members and then, in turn, produces higher regarded work.

 

5. Feedback for development

Having pride in your work is great, we should feel this when we accomplish tasks, projects and more. This pride grows through opportunities to grow and develop our skill sets and make important decisions without the fear of making a mistake. Weekly feedback sessions help us stay accountable for our tasks but also allows us to feel that what we do matters, and if we make a mistake, we will not be punished,  just pushed to find a solution.

 

While these five techniques work for us, each company is different. See here for some other ideas that some small businesses do to increase productivity and engagement at their workplace!

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14 April 2021

KidsCo partners with Parents At Work

 

We are thrilled to announce our exclusive partnership with Parents At Work to help lead the way in the “new world of work”

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In light of the changes COVID-19 brought to us in 2020, the demand for easily accessible child care solutions has escalated for working families across Australia. With the increase in flexible work arrangements, working parents and carers are calling for a high level of understanding and value from their employers in blending their work and family commitments. This has led many workplaces into looking for care solutions to offer their employees to support work-life integration.

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“More than ever before working families are needing reliable child care solutions they can trust”
‍– Emma Walsh, CEO, Parents At Work.

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Parents At Work has been providing vital family, career and wellbeing services via their digital Work + Family Hub and Coaching & Training programs to over 100,000 families globally since 2007.

 

Over the past 12 months, we partnered with Parents At Work in supporting organisations to provide WFH with children solutions to their employees during the COVID-19 crisis. Throughout this period the KidsCo programs had ‘92% of 7,500 working parents enrolled in the virtual programs, saying they had 7-8 hours of uninterrupted work.’ This statistic alone was enough to make the decision to expand our program offerings through the partnership with Parents At Work.

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“Our partnership will assist Australia’s leading organisations in supporting their working parents balance the scales between career and family.”
‍– Laynton Allan, Co-founder & Managing Director, KidsCo.

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Both KidsCo and Parents At Work believe child care solutions should be fun, informative, connecting and educational – a winning combination for all; children, parents and the organisations they work for.

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School Holiday Programs – Virtual and Onsite

KidsCo’s award-winning school holiday programs take place throughout the year during each of the school holiday periods and can be delivered onsite or virtually depending on the needs of your people.

 

Beyond work performance issues, 68% of working parents said that they don’t feel like a good parent during the school holidays. Parents can now bring their children to KidsCo’s onsite school holiday programs at their workplace for 8 hours of educational fun.

 

KidsCo’s team of qualified teachers organise everything from sending communications, planning each day, setting up the boardroom, facilitating activities and packing up without disrupting the working day.

 

The virtual school holiday program proved a huge success in 2020 helping many working parents keep their children engaged in fun learning activities whilst working from home. These programs have had great feedback over the past year and are set to go to a whole new level in 2021.

 

Both the onsite and virtual school holiday programs run from 8:45 am – 4:30 pm, keeping children engaged for the entire working day.

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92% of our 7500 parents from the virtual program found they had 7 – 8 hours of uninterrupted work time.

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Virtual Before and After School Care‍

Not all screen time is bad with KidsCo’s interactive and educational before and after school programs.

 

Working parents can have peace of mind knowing that their children are safely engaging, learning and socialising while they prepare for or finish off their work. If the day’s activities require materials, a themed activity box will be delivered to your employee’s home before the program.

Emergency Care‍

KidsCo emergency care is a new solution available to employers to support organisations and their working parents in times of need. From last-minute work from home support to child care arrangements falling through, KidsCo emergency care solutions are offered virtually with qualified teachers on stand by for these unexpected times.

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2 March 2021

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