We are the best NHS employer for working families—it’s official!

Chelsea and Westminster has been ranked among the top 10 employers for working families in the UK in the Top Employers for Working Families Awards 2010 announced on 19 October—and the best NHS employer.

To achieve this ranking, we had to demonstrate how family-friendly working practices are embedded into the culture of the Trust.

The awards, organised by the work-life balance charity Working Families, were judged by a panel of experts and validated by the independent human resource centre the Institute for Employment Studies who created a rigorous assessment process.

Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive of Working Families said: “Winning an award requires a huge amount of dedication, forward thinking and creativity to find solutions that really make a difference to the working lives of parents, carers and their families. Huge congratulations to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for being recognised as a ‘top employer for working families’.

“Our research shows that organisations that recognise their employees’ outside of work commitments, see improved performance as staff feel better valued and engaged and therefore make a greater contribution. Therefore this award is beneficial to staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as well as the organisation as a whole.”

This is the second major national award to recognise the Trust as an employer of choice for staff in the last few months – we also won the ‘Most effective benefits strategy’ category of the HR Excellence Awards this summer.

Mark Gammage, Director of Human Resources, said: “Congratulations to the whole HR team and in particular Amber Payne, our Employee Benefits Manager, for her hard work and commitment.”