Glasgow wins big in Scottish Top Employers for Working Families

Glasgow has been revealed as a forward-thinking and dynamic hub for allowing people to work in a flexible and family friendly way as part of the Scottish Top Employers for Working Families Awards. Four out of six categories were won by Glaswegian companies in the 2018 awards, run by Scotland’s leading work-life balance organisation, Family Friendly Working Scotland.

The awards celebrate progressive employers that support staff to happily combine home and work life - and harness the business benefits this brings.

The Glaswegian winners are:

Best SME Employer (Small): Senshi Digital - Digital design studio.

Best SME Employer (Medium): Pursuit Marketing - Technology and B2B-focused marketing agency

Best Third Sector Employer: Young Enterprise Scotland (joint winner), Offers enterprise and entrepreneurship programmes to young people in Scotland.

Best Third Sector Employer: Includem (joint winner) Specialist charity working with vulnerable young people and their families on issues such as raising attainment, family breakdown and reducing youth offending.

Best for Innovation: Senshi Digital - As above.

Nikki Slowey, Joint Programme Director for Family Friendly Working Scotland, said: “Many congratulations to all our winners including Senshi Digital, Pursuit Marketing, Young Enterprise Scotland and Includem. They are leading the way in finding innovative and progressive ways of working that benefit both workers and the business itself. Glasgow certainly seems to be a very forward-thinking and dynamic city when it comes to working flexibly. It had a very strong presence across our award categories and we hope our winners inspire others in the city to follow suit.

“We’ve seen an increase the in the quality and quantity of applications for our awards across Scotland so we’re confident the country as a whole is making progress in shifting to a more flexible working culture. We appreciate this isn’t something that happens overnight and want to stress that we’re here to help and advise organisations, where ever they are on their journey.”

Senshi Digital scooped two awards at yesterday’s ceremony Director Chris Torres introduced a six-hour working day for staff without cutting pay in March 2016 and believes this has improved his business model. He said: “Having a happy, productive team driving your business forward is the cornerstone of success. When we introduced the six-hour working day at Senshi Digital, the staff became more invested in my business and their enthusiasm rubbed off on clients, helping to create lasting relationships. This has had such a positive impact in my business in many ways.

“Glasgow has always been such a creative, forward thinking city. It is no surprise to me that in the UK, Glasgow is driving flexible working forward and should be the model case for all others. As Glaswegians, we like to think out-the-box, and this is why we have contributed so much to the world."

The judges looked for clear examples of how organsiations support their people to have a good work-life balance. They considered the company culture, leadership and practical support provided as well as official policies. They also wanted to see family friendly working as part of an organisation’s strategy and how this impacts positvely on the business. The judges heard testimonials from employees as part of the process.

The winners embrace many forms of flexible working including part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, remote working, term-time working and/or more ad-hoc arrangements that help members of staff to balance their home and work lives.

Nearly half of Scots (46%) say they can currently work flexibly. Of those, 77 per cent say they are more productive and 77 per cent say they 'go the extra mile' for their employer as a result (1).

Increasing productivity is just one of the evidenced business benefits of flexible working. Other benefits include increasing staff retention and reducing absenteeism. The winners were announced at a Bright Lights ceremony at the Lighthouse in Glasgow on Thursday 22 March 2018.

The event was hosted by Professor Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director at the Scottish Government and Host of TedX Glasgow 2017. Guest speakers included David Eustace, Creative Consultant and Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University and Petra Wetzel, Founder and Managing Director of West Brewery.

The awards are sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group, Dentons, City Building Glasgow, Scottish Power, Skills Development Scotland, Quorum, Arnold Clark and Pursuit Marketing.