A Harry’s Pledge supporter has hailed a “great” 12 months as it continues to support its employees who also have caring responsibilities.
Notting Hill Genesis launched a Carers Network as part of its support for the Pledge, which has given carers within the business the opportunity to be seen.
Carers have also been added to the organisation’s Diversity Inclusion Impact Assessments (DIIAs).
DIIAs have also been added to the project management methodology ensuring carers are considered on new projects being rolled out, along with already being a key part when reviewing HR policies.
Natalie Quilter, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Lead at NHG said: “We also enhanced the caring responsibilities question further in our staff satisfaction survey to recognise the different groups and to distinguish between parents and carers.
“We had a great response which saw over 16 percent of the business either care for an adult, child or both, meaning more focused support can be given.
“We’ve focused on intersectionality this year and have run various events with Parallel, our health and disability network, most notably raising awareness of autism – where two of our members shared their story of raising an autistic child which was then followed with a staff member sharing their lived experience.
“With so many different variations of caring responsibilities, we teamed up with AKA life coaching to deliver bespoke workshops to understand more about carers rights and how to be heard.
“We continue to offer one to one coaching to ensure each member can get the personalised support they need, whether it’s through writing a carers assessment or how to juggle caring responsibilities with work.
“This has given the group the tools and techniques to help their wellbeing, which means they can better support their loved ones.”
The organisation also created a dedicated carers and caring responsibilities resource page on its intranet which looked at books, films and podcasts to help those who aren’t carers understand more about the experience of those who are.
Natalie has also raised awareness of supporting carers in the workplace across the housing sector through various talks for the National Housing Federation, Social Housing Roundtable, London Build and British Disability Forum to shine a spotlight on this otherwise forgotten group of staff.
One member of NHG’s Carers Network said: “It’s nice for an organisation to have carers recognised.
“I personally find it really rewarding being able to speak to others that are in the same position as me as they completely understand what I’m going through and the emotions I feel.
“Being part of this network has made me feel like I’m not carrying the burden by myself, and I have a place of safety, where there’s no judgement, that I can go to.”