Grant Thornton named Working Families Top Employer

Leading business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP has been recognised for its commitment to creating an inclusive and flexible workplace for working families by the 2020 Working Families Top Employers List.

The annual list recognises organisations across the UK who are leading the way in building flexible, family friendly workplaces. Employers were assessed using Working Families’ Benchmark and were scored on four key areas to build a comprehensive picture of their flexible and family-friendly policies and practices that specifically support mothers, fathers, and carers. These are:   

integration to organisational strategy and culture – which looks at culture, attitude and how far flexible and family-friendly working practices have become embedded   
policy – which looks at the creation, development and deployment of flexible and family-friendly working policies   
consistent practice – which considers how well flexible and family-friendly working is supported    
evidence and statistics – which looks at the effects of flexible and family-friendly working on the organisation, and their ability to understand those effects.  
Grant Thornton is committed to supporting its people and creating a culture of everyday inclusion. The firm has actively prioritised making flexible working more accessible and viewed as the norm throughout the firm, through sharing stories and showcasing examples of its success. Everyone in the firm also has the right to request flexible working and can work in an agile way to suit their own work and family commitments. 

The firm has also reviewed its maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies, to make them more inclusive, and enhanced its adoption pay scheme and has focused on how it can support those with caring responsibilities, including introducing a ‘support for carers guide’.

Jenn Barnett, Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Wellbeing at Grant Thornton UK LLP, commented:

“We are thrilled that our commitment to building leading flexible working policies has been recognised.

“The complete shift to full-time home-working due to COVID-19, has demonstrated just how vital it is to create a supportive culture for our working parents and carers, and to provide everyone with the freedom to balance their day-to-day lives with their work, because this time has been particularly tough for working parents with younger children.

“Over the past few years, we have created flexible policies and practices to accommodate our people’s diverse needs and commitments outside of work to help our people create balance and reduce stress. Our overall aim is to protect and prioritise the mental health of our people.

“While we have made great progress, we can always do more to encourage better flexibility and work-life balance for our people. We are reviewing our current operational model to see where we can become more agile and are committed to further embedding flexible family-friendly working practices in our firm.”

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