Caring with Confidence in the workplace
Caring with Confidence Provider: Omega
Employer: 
Overview
Caring with Confidence has joined forces with BT - one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services - to offer the programme to employees who also have a caring responsibility.
In the UK, BT employs around 87,000 people and estimates that 1 in 7 employees will have caring responsibilities for a disabled, elderly or sick partner, relative or friend. The company has a commitment to supporting employees who are carers and provide flexible working arrangements and facilitate an employee’s carers network as well as chairing the Employers for Carers membership forum which is supported by Carers UK. The forum is designed to deliver hands-on advice to employers about supporting the UK’s three million working carers.
Working carers - challenges
For carers balancing multiple responsibilities inside and outside the workplace - juggling paid work with caring for someone who is ill, frail or has a disability - can present real challenges. For some carers, this can result in them leaving paid employment to become a full time carer.
Employers like BT who are able to support employees by providing things such as flexible working practices, emergency leave, flexible leave arrangements and workplace support can see benefits. Evidence shows these flexibilities can reduce staff turnover and absence thereby cutting employment costs and increasing staff morale and productivity.
Partnership working
BT began the partnership with Caring with Confidence by piloting the programme’s free introductory session to 14 employees in Birmingham. BT provided a private room on site for the session to take place and enabled employees to attend the three hour session during work hours. Caring with Confidence covered all running costs of the session.
Employees who then decided to continue with any of the following six stand alone sessions were encouraged to join free sessions running off site through local Providers of the Caring with Confidence programme.
These Providers are able to offer group sessions at different times of the day as well as evenings and weekends to increase the availability of sessions to carers who also work. Options are also available to enable carers to continue the programme through self-study workbooks or online sessions which they can do in their own time from home.
Going forward
Due to the success of the initial trial in Birmingham, the programme is being rolled out to other BT locations starting with Wolverhampton, Manchester, Croydon and Ipswich with other centres, including Shrewsbury, to follow suit throughout 2010.
Helen Chipchase, BT People & Policy Manager, Disability & Carers, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer BT employees across the country the opportunity to benefit from this important initiative. We understand the challenges carers face balancing their responsibilities and this is one way in which we can help them to help themselves.”
Phil Morris senior project manager at Omega, who have developed the relationship and are delivering the Caring with Confidence programme with BT, added: “Carers come from all walks of life and many juggle a variety of roles with their caring responsibilities, including paid employment. Omega welcomes BT’s commitment to help carers access the Caring with Confidence programme."