The Co-operative Group has launched an enhanced people policy to support employees who are unpaid adult carers.
Research into its workforce found that one in 10 of the group’s 100,000 employees are caring for a family member or friend because of illness, frailty or disability.
The policy consolidates a range of flexible working and family-leave arrangements, as well as signposting employees to training and information, and a 24-hour employee assistance programme (EAP).
Liz Bramley, head of employee engagement and diversity at The Co-operative Group, said: “Accommodating individual needs that enable employees to balance caring responsibilities effectively with employment responsibilities, the policy combines emergency leave, flexible-working provisions and additional sources of support for carers to cover the wide range of circumstances that caring entails.”
