Parents and carers newsletters
The Employee Engagement team will be sending out newsletters to parents and carers within the College detailing the current resources and support schemes within the College.
The College is committed to supporting Parents and Carers to achieve a good work life balance. We know finding the ideal balance between work and home can make a significant difference to your family relationships and success at work. We hope you find the resources highlighted in this newsletter useful.
You can view the newsletters here or alternatively contact the Parents Network or Carers Network to be added to the mailing list.
Newsletters
First Edition
Welcome to this first edition of the Parents and Carers Newsletter.
Working Families
For the first time since completing the benchmark, the College has progressed from being named in the Top 30 Employers to being in the Top 10 Employers for Working Families out of over 100 organisations, and is the only University to achieve this.
Online Networks
The College have a dedicated Parents Network page and Carers Network page which aim to provide all relevant policies and information in one place.
Alongside this are the Parents Yammer page and Carers Yammer page where you can receive updates on new resources, webinars and events in addition to being able to build networks with your colleagues to provide mutual support, ideas and good practice.
Increased Caring Responsibilities During Covid-19
This carers’ guidance has been developed to support staff who are working during the Covid-19 pandemic whilst also caring for dependants. View the webpage and the guidance (College log-in required).
Carers UK Membership
Following the 2019 Staff Survey and feedback from Carers Focus Groups, Imperial has become a member of Carers UK to help create a supportive working environment for staff with caring responsibilities.
In partnership with Carers UK, we ran a series of virtual events during National Carers Week (8-14 June), including a workshop run by Carers UK and a Carers’ Networking Session. Slides from the workshop are available.
Our membership of Carers UK opens up access to a huge range of resources available for whenever you need them: sign up for free with access code #EFC1845 to access.
My Family Care
The College have signed up with My Family Care which is an external service designed to meet the demands and challenges for working parents and carers through back-up care services, advice with an expert, online articles, updates and webinars. My Family Care can organise emergency childcare, school holiday cover and backup adult/elder care.
Their most recent resources which may interest you include:
- Resources for adults, parents and carers
- Steps to avoid lockdown burnout
- How to help ease pregnancy aches and pains
- Building resilience and sleep
- A little compassion goes a long way
- Webinars on demand
- Upcoming Webinars
- How to get support if you’re a new COVID carer or covert carer
- Carers Trust: free online courses for carers
- 20 online resources and offline activities for the elderly
- When your caring role changes or ends
Parent Scheme
This is a free resource to support parents and those with caring responsibilities, recently launched.
Elsie Widdowson Fellowship Award
The fellowship allows academic staff to concentrate fully on their research upon returning from maternity, adoption, surrogacy and/or shared parental leave. Dr Asha Patel, a recent awardee, discusses how the fellowship is benefiting her in Imperial News.
Support at Home Calendar
We have put together a Support at Home calendar pulling together all resources in one place for staff to view, which is updated weekly. This not only includes College, but also some external events. You can view this here. If you would like to get in touch with us or have an item you wish to publish on the calendar, please contact emily.michael@imperial.ac.uk or h.young@imperial.ac.uk.
Parent Buddy Scheme
We have recently relaunched the Parent Buddy Scheme.
You can now sign up to be matched with another member of staff who has recently gone through family leave (before, during and after). Your parent buddy will act as a sounding board to answer any questions you may have and provide support. You can find further advice on the scheme online.
Please contact the Parents inbox if you are interested in signing up to the scheme.
Upcoming Network Sessions
The Employee Engagement team in HR are running monthly virtual parent and carers networking sessions.
Our sessions will give you an opportunity to meet other carers/parents at work, to build networks with your colleagues and help enable mutual support. A representative from HR will also be available to answer your questions.
The next Babies and Bumps session will take place on Tuesday 6 October from 10.30 - 11.30. If you would like to join the next session, please email our Parents inbox for a Microsoft Teams invite.
The next Carers Networking session will take place in November 2020- further details will be announced soon.
HR Policies
In addition to our Networking pages, you can also find dedicated HR guidance and the family leave policies on the HR webpages.
Postdoc Support
There is a similar network for the Parents Network under the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre (for Postdocs and Fellows only). For further information on their support and upcoming events, please visit their webpages.
Parent Workshops
Every term, we offer three workshops that look at both the practical and emotional aspects to enable staff to develop in their careers post maternity, adoption, paternity/maternity support, or shared parental leave, through effective planning and communication.
The next workshops will be taking place on a virtual basis in October 2020:
- Preparing for Maternity Leave: Wednesday 7 October, 11.00 – 14.00
- Working Parents: Thursday 8 October, 11.00 – 14.00
- New Fathers/Partners: Wednesday 14 October, 12.00 – 14.00
To sign up, search for the name of the workshop in the ‘My Training’ area of ICIS and click to enrol.
Contact Us
This newsletter has been produced by the Employee Engagement team within HR.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact carersnetwork@imperial.ac.uk and/or parents@imperial.ac.uk. As this is the first edition of this newsletter, please do get in touch to give us any feedback on anything you would like included in the future
Second Edition
Welcome to the second edition of the Parents and Carers Newsletter.
Online Networks
The College have a dedicated Parents Network page and Carers Network page which aim to provide all relevant policies and information in one place.
Alongside this are the Parents Yammer page and Carers Yammer page where you can receive updates on new resources, webinars and events in addition to being able to build networks with your colleagues to provide mutual support, ideas and good practice.
Caring Responsibilities During Covid-19
This carers’ guidance has been updated further in light of the Government’s January 2021 announcements to continue to support staff who are working during the Covid-19 pandemic whilst also caring for dependants. View the webpage and the guidance (College log-in required).
Carers UK Membership
Imperial is a member of Carers UK to help create a supportive working environment for staff with caring responsibilities. Our membership of Carers UK opens up access to a huge range of resources available for whenever you need them: sign up for free with access code #EFC1845 to access.
Recap of Women@Imperial week
Women at Imperial is an annual event at the College which took place around International Women’s Day (8 March). Over the course of a week the College celebrated female staff and students at Imperial, past and present, and raised awareness of the support available in College for women.
The week took place with virtual events from 8 – 12 March. This year the theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) was #ChoosetoChallenge, which aims to “Celebrate women's achievement; raise awareness against bias and take action for equality.”
The Employee Engagement team ran a Parents and Carers networking session during this week and would like to thank everyone who attended. You can find further information here on the events that took place for Women@Imperial Week in addition to information on pioneering women in our community.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Imperial will also be hosting events and offering resources for Mental Health Awareness Week, which will be taking place from 10-16th May 2021. The theme for this year is “nature”.
Leading mental health charities have chosen this theme as evidence demonstrates that access to nature is crucial for our mental health with millions of people re-discovering this during the lockdowns over the past year. The Employee Engagement team will also be running a Parents and Carers networking session during this week, scheduled for Tuesday 11 May, 15.00-16.00. Further details and how to sign up (including a fully published schedule on other events taking place that week) will be published in the upcoming weeks.
My Family Care
The College have signed up with My Family Care which is an external service designed to meet the demands and challenges for working parents and carers through back-up care services, advice with an expert, online articles, updates and webinars. My Family Care can organise emergency childcare, school holiday cover and backup adult/elder care.
Their most recent resources which may interest you include:
- Seven key steps to reduce stress
- Manging return to work anxiety
- How gratitude can make us happier
- Workplace burnout - signs to look out for and how to overcome it
- Supporting elderly wellbeing
- Four ways to be mindful at work
- Helping teens manage the pressures of the unknowns and moving goalposts
- Making the best of 2021 - 5 top tips for success
- 20 Family leave and postnatal wellbeing supports
- Sibling reactions to new-born arrivals
- Family finance and managing money
- The sandwich generation: Tips for taking care of elderly parents
- Supporting the elderly with isolation
- It’s time to Spring forward: Tips to prepare for the clock change
- Uneasy about lockdown easing?
- Virtual book clubs
- Previous Webinars on Demand
15 April webinar: Parenting children and young people with Autism, ADHD and Asperger’s.
Support at Home Calendar
We have put together a Support at Home calendar pulling together all resources in one place for staff to view, which is updated weekly. This not only includes College, but also some external events. You can view this here. If you would like to get in touch with us or have an item you wish to publish on the calendar, please contact emily.michael@imperial.ac.uk or h.young@imperial.ac.uk.
Upcoming Network Sessions
The Employee Engagement team in HR are running monthly virtual parent and carers networking sessions. Our sessions will give you an opportunity to meet other carers/parents at work, to build networks with your colleagues and help enable mutual support. A representative from HR will also be available to answer your questions.
For more information on the sessions or if you would like to register your interest to attend, please email our Parents inbox (for Parents sessions) or our Carers inbox (for Carers sessions).
The next Babies and Bumps session will take place on Tuesday 13 April from 10.30 - 11.30. If you would like to join the next session, please email our Parents inbox for a Microsoft Teams invite.
HR Policies
In addition to our Networking pages, you can also find dedicated HR guidance and the family leave policies on the HR webpages.
Postdoc Support
There is a similar network for the Parents Network under the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre (for Postdocs and Fellows only). For further information on their support and upcoming events, please visit their webpages.
Parent Workshops
Every term, we offer three workshops that look at both the practical and emotional aspects to enable staff to develop in their careers post parental leave through effective planning and communication.
The next workshops will be taking place on a virtual basis in May 2021:
- Preparing for Parental Leave: Wednesday 13 May, 11.00 – 14.00
- Working Parents: Thursday 20 May, 11.00 – 14.00
- New Partners: Thursday 6 May, 12.00 – 14.00
To sign up, search for the name of the workshop in the ‘My Training’ area of ICIS and click to enrol.
Contact Us
This newsletter has been produced by the Employee Engagement team within HR.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact carersnetwork@imperial.ac.uk and/or parents@imperial.ac.uk. Please do get in touch to give us any feedback on anything you would like included in the future.