Staff given help to balance work and family lives
CARRINGTONS Catering in Skelmersdale has championed working parents within the hospitality industry to mark ‘Working Parents Day’ earlier this week.
The leading catering firm is highlighting the importance of achieving the ‘work/life’ balance.
Statistics estimate that the share of lone parents in employment has risen from 43.8% in 1996 to 66.5% in 2016, with the hospitality sector becoming the fourth biggest employer in the UK accounting for 3.2 million jobs.
Director of Carringtons Catering Helen Wynn said: “As a parent myself, I understand just how important it is to get the elusive ‘work/life’ balance just right, which is why Carringtons Catering strives to provide its employees with problem-free solutions within the workplace to ensure that family comes first.
“The nature of our industry means that our working days can start particularly early or go on until late at night and often sees us working during the weekend and on public holidays, with team members potentially missing out on key family events from birthdays to the school run - the stresses for today’s working parents can certainly feel difficult.
“With this in mind, we offer flexible working to new parents on return from maternity leave, while continuing to guarantee flexible working patterns for our staff members to help with childcare issues and personal commitments.”
With a low staff turnover, Carringtons Catering utilises schemes such as the ‘Perk Box’ which offers employees rewards such as freebies or discounts in a number of high-street shops, entertainment venues and restaurants that not only benefit the company’s immediate team, but their whole families.
Helen added: “For the hospitality industry as a whole, it is very important to encourage employers to support working parents so that we can attract not only skilled and motivated individuals but also local workers and retain these key individuals in order to start to break down the high staff turnover label that is attached to this sector.
“Ultimately, our staff are our greatest commodity and always at the heart of what we do, and we strive to understand, listen to and act when somebody needs our support.”
Carringtons Catering is one of the North West’s longest standing independent firms, providing bespoke catering and event hospitality services covering both private and corporate occasions.
The firm has worked for many years with a number of high profile clients including royalty, sports personalities and authorities.
For more information about Carringtons Catering visit www.carringtonscatering.co.uk or call 01695 632 227.