The Future of Work is Family-Friendly

Helping organisations around the world create workplaces where people can work, care and thrive.family-inclusive policies.

Supporting families isn't simply an employee benefit. It's a business strategy

Evidence shows family-friendly workplace policies can support employee wellbeing, productivity, attraction and retention — while helping parents and carers thrive at work and at home.

Source: UNICEF, Building Family-Friendly Workplaces

A Global Movement for Family-Friendly Workplaces

Family Friendly Workplaces™ is a global movement to transform the future of work through family-inclusive policies that support wellbeing, inclusion, and gender equality.
Backed by policymakers, industry leaders, and community organisations, we empower businesses worldwide to align with best-practice Global Work + Family Standards. For societies and economies to thrive, businesses and governments across the globe must unite to accelerate the adoption of family-friendly workplace policies, creating a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable future for all.

Built on Global Expertise and Collaboration

Family Friendly Workplaces ™ was founded by Parents At Work, with the original initiative developed in partnership with UNICEF Australia to advance family-friendly workplace practices and improve outcomes for children, families and workplaces. Today, Family Friendly Workplaces is building on these foundations to advance a global movement for workplaces where people can work, care and thrive. Backed by policymakers, industry leaders, and community organisations, we empower businesses worldwide to align with best-practice Global Work + Family Standards. For societies and economies to thrive, businesses and governments across the globe must unite to accelerate the adoption of family-friendly workplace policies, creating a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable future for all.

Supporting
Organisations

Our Global Impact

Certified Workplaces

Employees

The Global Standard
for Family-Friendly Workplaces

An evidence-based framework designed to help organisations build workplaces where people can thrive at work and at home and measure meaningful progress across six key areas.

Flexible Work

Flexible work practices that support employees to balance work, family and caring responsibilities.

Parental Leave

Inclusive parental leave policies that support all parents before, during and after parental leave.

Leadership

Leadership practices that embed family-friendly workplace culture, accountability and inclusion.

Family Care

Workplace policies and support for employees with childcare, eldercare and other caring responsibilities

Family Wellbeing

Workplace practices that support employee and family wellbeing across different life and care stages.

Measurement

Measurement and benchmarking to track family-friendly workplace practices, progress and impact.

Explore the Global Work + Family Standards

Discover the evidence-based principles and practices underpinning family-inclusive workplaces and how your organisation can put them into action.

Building Family Friendly Workplaces of the Future

Around the world, employers are rethinking how work can better support people to work, care and thrive.

Join a global community of leaders and organisations committed to creating more family-friendly workplaces and get the latest research, global insights, practical resources and stories of change.

Join the movement shaping a more family-friendly future.

Supporting Employees, Empowering Leaders

Family-friendly employers don’t just attract top talent, they enable employees to thrive at work and at home.

Assess your policies and practices against international best-practice standards to gain recognition as a certified Family Inclusive Workplace.

Family Friendly Workplaces
is a UNSDG initiative focused on the achievement of:

Goal 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing
Goal 5 – Gender Equality
Goal 8 – Decent Work
Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities

Being a family-friendly workplace is fundamentally more than offering simple flexibility around family commitments – it goes to the heart of an organisation’s culture and the value it places on performance, wellbeing and inclusion. It’s about enabling people to reconcile work and life responsibilities by addressing systemic cultural and gender bias challenges that stifle productivity, engagement and equality in the workplace.

Emma Walsh

Founder

Family Friendly Workplaces

Family-friendly policies contribute to healthier, better-educated children, greater gender equality and sustainable
growth. They are also linked to better workforce productivity and the ability
to attract, motivate and retain employees.

UNICEF

At QBE we endeavour to embrace diversity and ensure we provide a platform where all our people feel supported to be at their best in the home, and at work. Our gender-equal paid parental leave policy, Share the Care, is a great example of our commitment to mainstreaming equal caring responsibilities for men and women. It’s not just the right thing to do, it makes perfect business sense, with family friendly workplaces delivering positive outcomes for society, business, our economy, and our families

QBE