The definitive list of the UK's BEST employers for people who combine care commitments with work. Register an interest for 2010

This inaugural list of Top Employers for working families marks the 30th anniversary of Working Families. These are employers who have a track record of being family-friendly. Together they have helped to change the way we think about and organise the way we work. Family friendly working isn’t just about flexible working. It includes other elements like childcare, employee support and wellbeing too.

Many of these organisations began their family-friendly journey many years ago, and our 30th anniversary is a good time to celebrate their achievements and demonstrate the extent to which family-friendly working has become mainstream practice. It wasn’t always the case. In the 1980’s when family friendly working first started to gain traction, it was centred around women returners, with part-time hours, job sharing and flexitime the most common solutions. As flexible working spread, some employers joined up the dots and started offering childcare solutions. Early pioneers of workplace nurseries included the NHS, local authorities and the civil service. Midland Bank was an exceptional player in terms of large-scale childcare programmes, but in many industry sectors employers as varied as BP, Thomas Cook and Motorola began to invest in childcare support for their employees. This in turn led, by the 1990’s, to an emphasis on family friendly working, although few men at this time worked flexibly, and paternity leave was on a far distant horizon. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, carers for adults and relatives were increasingly recognised as needing to be able to work flexibly. The definition of family friendly therefore widened to include not just women with young children, but men and carers.

Throughout the 1990s there was a consistent accumulation and development of flexible and family friendly working policy. Recruitment and retention formed the underpinnings of the business case, and diversity and inclusion increasingly informed decisions around flexible working policies. But for all the policy initiatives there was still a sense by the end of the decade that family friendly still equated to 'women with young children friendly'.

Forward thinking employers met this challenge. Organisations have led the development of family friendly working, often way ahead of legislation. Employer initiatives championed by, among others, BT, Lloyds TSB and PricewaterhouseCoopers, included Employers for Childcare, which contributed to the National Childcare Strategy; Employers for Work-life balance, whose work led to the introduction of the Right to Request Flexible Working ; and Employers for Carers, whose campaigning led to the extension of the Right to Request to carers.

Our Top 20 organisations all demonstrate the practical application of a family friendly approach to employment. Policy is not enough. To get family-friendly working to take off in an organisation it is necessary to really embed it in the culture. In this respect, SMEs may have an advantage where the culture is easier to influence due to scale and familiarity. Larger organisations may have to take a more methodical approach to get flexible working to become a realistic consideration for many employees. But there are common elements which these organisations here show can really make a difference between having good policies, and being a family friendly employer:

Champions are important. High profile people, at the top, demonstrating their commitment to flexibility is key. Backing it up with actions, not words is important.

Showing that flexibility is no impediment to success is vital. The example of people rising through the organisation while still working flexibly is a convincing reply to the fears that may be harboured about career damage. Some of the employers featured here are proactively monitoring the career path of flexible workers so they can see if there are barriers, and if there are, what they can do about them.

Recruitment and retention is still a core driver for family friendly working (although temporarily falling from the top of employer agendas as the recession bites) but as this approach to employment matures, leading organisations are identifying additional benefits.

There is increased emphasis on wellbeing. This is at the heart of a business case which argues that happier employees with a good work-life balance will be more motivated and perform at a higher level, as well as reducing stress related and sickness absence.

Eldercare and retirement is recognised as an area of family friendly working which is going to be of growing importance. Allying policies with business performance in terms of retention of knowledge and skills is key.

Engagement with employees is increasingly a characteristic of family friendly employers. This means working with people to identify and develop family friendly practices, and also align flexibility with an understanding of organisational needs.

Measurement is also vital. Organisations who monitor and measure the deployment of flexible working and its effects are best placed to argue its benefits and ensure that family friendly programmes are successful.

Men are one group many of these organisations are interested in measuring and monitoring. As more men take up flexible options these employers are able to identify clear signs that family friendly really is expanding beyond the traditional group of mothers with young children.

Being a Top Employer, then, is much more about having a suite of policies around work-life balance. It’s about taking steps to make sure that they are actually useful to the people who need them – not just in their current situation, but through the lifecourse as an employee. This might mean using flexibility at different times, and for different reasons. A Top Employer is one who promotes family-friendly working – and means it.