Carers play a vital role in our communities which we can all be more aware of, including in our workplaces, so to help raise awareness we are holding a series of carer aware workshops for our staff.
The workshops are part of a range of activities we are undertaking working towards achieving the Carer Positive award for carer-friendly workplaces. The first is being held this week and more are planned for the later in the year.
The National Carers Strategy says that it is ‘everyone’s job to identify and support carers’ and we are holding the workshops to help raise staff awareness of unpaid carers within the workplace, provding an insight into the impact of caring and hear what the organisation can do to support them in their role.
Carer Positive aims to encourage employers to create a supportive working environment for carers. As well as helping the individual and their family, supporting carers to manage the sometimes difficult job of balancing work with care responsibilities can have real benefits to employers. Unfortunately many carers give up work when juggling responsibilities becomes too much.
The Carer Positive award is presented to employers in Scotland who have a working environment where carers are valued and supported. Carer Positive employers recognise the importance of retaining experienced members of staff, reducing absence, and cutting down on avoidable recruitment costs.
Find out more about Carer Positive on their website: http://www.carerpositive.org/