UK Special Award 2006:

Special Award: Gender
Supporter: Equal Opportunities Commission
www.eoc.org.uk

Winner: Stopgap

The Great Place to Work^® Institute UK takes great pleasure in presenting the Gender Award with the support of the Equal Opportunities Commission.  Stopgap, the winner of this year's award, is already making great progress in transforming its workplace, making innovations we hope will soon become common practice. The Award recognises best practice in promoting gender equality in the workplace.

Stopgap is a staffing and recruitment agency founded by Claire Owen in 1993. Over a quarter of employees take advantage of working from home, while 100 percent take advantage of flexitime. What is more, the company offers five days of paid parental leave to all employees - men and women alike - and combines this with generous maternity and paternity leave, a childcare voucher scheme and payroll facilities for staff's nannies.  A unique feature of Stopgap's approach is its "flying squad" of consultants, who cover for holidays, illness and help out when an employee is experiencing a particularly heavy workload. Staff are encouraged - and expected - to ask for support when they need it, rather than left to struggle on their own.

Stopgap's approach enables its employees - both women and men - to balance their personal lives and caring responsibilities while still carving out a career. This in turn helps Stopgap retain valuable employees and attract a broader range of talent, while also enjoying increased rates of productivity, higher morale and reduced recruitment and retention costs.