Work-life balance charity Working Families has announced its annual list of the top family-friendly employers in the UK. Employers across the public, private, and third sectors compete annually to gain a coveted place on the charity’s list of Top Employers for Working Families.
DWF has ranked among the Top Ten Employers for Working Families. The benchmarking assesses companies on core areas to build a comprehensive picture of their flexible and family-friendly policies and practices that specifically support mothers, fathers and carers.
DWF has also been ranked 16th in The Social Mobility Employer Index. The Index is the creation of the Social Mobility Foundation and ranks Britain’s employers on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds. DWF was recognised for the commendable work it has taken to tackle this and enable those from lower socio-economic backgrounds to succeed.
Measures taken by DWF to improve social mobility include the award-winning 5 STAR Futures programme, offering higher-level apprenticeships and university mentoring schemes as well as its work to improve data collection and its employee referral programme.
Andrew Leaitherland, Group CEO at DWF added: "I am very proud that DWF has ranked highly for our support of working families and our efforts to improve social mobility. We are a business that is committed to doing things differently which means we value diversity and need to attract and retain a diverse and inclusive workforce. We also have a responsibility to contribute to our community by doing what we can to advance social mobility and to provide a flexible environment for working families."
Ty Jones, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Engagement at DWF said: "As a Social Mobility Pledge-accredited employer, we will continue to work with local schools, offer apprenticeships and adopt open recruitment policies such as contextual recruitment. Social mobility matters to DWF as we're a people-led business, and we want the best people to work for us, wherever they come from.
"We also have a longstanding commitment to flexible working and ensuring our colleagues are able to combine their career and family responsibilities. We're pleased to be recognised as a leading business for working families and look forward to further developing our policies and practices that empower our colleagues to find a working pattern flexible to their needs."
Quotes from Working Families and the Social Mobility Foundation
Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive of Working Families, said: “We are delighted to recognise the ten outstanding organisations that made our Top Employers for Working Families list this year. These employers excelled in our rigorous benchmarking process, proving they are leading the way in building family-friendly and flexible workplaces. Crucially, they are not just putting policies in place—they are building cultures that support their employees’ wellbeing.”
The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Foundation, said: "Social mobility is becoming a cause for more and more of our country's top employers. When politics is weak, society needs to be strong - so it is welcome a growing number of employers are stepping up to the plate. They recognise the need to open their doors to a wider pool of talent both to address growing public concerns about unfairness and to reap the business benefits from having more diverse workforces. The onus is now on all of our country's top employers to do the same."
For more information, please contact:
Holly Fairclough, Communications Coordinator
Tel: +44 7840 648995
Email: holly.fairclough@dwf.law
Alternatively, contact the DWF press office on press.office@dwf.law
