A Swindon charity has praised Nationwide Building Society for its efforts to understand and support employees with caring responsibilities.

Swindon Carers Centre has presented the Pipers Way-based business with the Swindon Employers Care Award in recognition of its commitment to unpaid carers in the workplace.

An unpaid carer is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without the support.

Juggling these responsibilities alongside working life can be challenging, but a supportive workplace can make all the difference, helping employees to look after their own health and wellbeing while thriving in their job.

Nationwide teams and managers have worked with Swindon Carers partnership manager Judy Evans to revisit and develop support in place for employees who are carers as part of the Swindon Employers Care Award.

Judy said: “Nationwide are so supportive of their working carers and have been for a long time.

“It’s been a real pleasure and privilege to offer my support and to work with them towards completing this award. They are an excellent role-model and I have been able to share many of their ideas and initiatives with others.

“Congratulations to the whole team on achieving the award.”

Nationwide already have several initiatives in place, including their working carers network which gives employees a supportive space to speak about their caring role, share experiences and learn new ways to balance caring responsibilities alongside other demands.

The firm provides carers passports, which can be completed by employees giving details of their caring responsibilities and help to start conversations with line managers to ensure working carers can achieve the right balance between their work and their caring responsibilities.

They have the option of up to five extra days of paid leave via the society’s family support leave scheme.

Joanna Hall, co-chair of the Working Carers Employee Network Group at Nationwide, said: “It’s been a pleasure working with Swindon Carers Centre towards achieving our Swindon Employee Care Award. The whole process has helped us to review what we do and ensure we are doing our very best for our working carers.

“We are very proud of this achievement and our thanks go to Judy and her team for their ongoing support.”