Barclays, Bella Italia and Butlins win Mumsnet Family Friendly Awards

The winners of the 2014 Mumsnet Family Friendly Innovation Awards have been announced at a ceremony, hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP. Barclays, Bella Italia and Butlins have each received a Mumsnet Innovation Award to recognise their commitment to family-friendly policies, voted for by Mumsnet users as part of the Mumsnet Family Friendly programme.

The Innovation Awards celebrate Family Friendly programme members who have shown originality and leadership in the policies they have developed over the course of the year.

• Barclays are launching a ‘Stay in Touch’ app, which allows employees to keep in touch with their managers during maternity and paternity leave. The app features a pay calculator to work out how much employees will receive on their return to work, and links to their HR portal.
• Bella Italia talked to parents and children about what’s important when eating out, and used the feedback to develop their ‘tried and tested’ family-focused dining.  Innovations include ‘first food fast’ free breadsticks on arrival, free re-fillable cordials and adult dishes available in child-sized portions. This new dining experience is now being trialled in many of their restaurants.
• Butlins have launched ‘Just for Tots’, a short break designed around keeping the under-5s happy.  The four-day break keeps families’ needs at heart and includes child-friendly accommodation, opening and closing times that take early starts and bedtime into consideration, and child-friendly food and entertainment.

Mumsnet’s Family Friendly programme works with businesses to improve family-friendly policies, both for employees and for customers. Since the programme started in 2011, over 1.7 million employees have been involved. Through the use of ‘secret shoppers’, staff audits and policy analysis conducted by Parent Zone we track member companies to ensure they are living up to public commitments and continuing to develop family-friendly practices.

One winner, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), collected a gold award for consistently meeting family friendly criteria for both for their employees.  It’s innovative work in developing family friendly practices, included a “Back to Business” programme for mums returning to work and workshops and coaching for all employees covering various topics from effective parenting and maternity leave to mindfulness and work/life balance, along with practices and practical approaches to ensure their policies are having an impact and reaching staff at all levels.