Family Friendly Workplaces ‘WeCare’ Package

WeCare offers a package of services which are tailored to meet the needs of working parents, their children and young workers whilst also responding to the businesses needs of suppliers. WeCare supports suppliers to implement policies, practices and programmes that enable their workers to fulfil their role as parents, meet personal development goals, and fulfil responsibilities at work. 

Services offered via the WeCare package address areas including support for parent workers, responsible recruitment, childcare provision, parenting skills, maternal health and breastfeeding, support for young workers including juvenile workers, flexible working arrangements and other relevant well-being issues.

Please download our 2021 WeCare Achievements and Programme Overview brochure below or here.

Why do we need WeCare?

Parent workers face many challenges, including:

• Financial pressures: 32% of parents in a worker survey in China say they can’t afford basic necessities for their family

• Challenging to return to work: 20% of women in a study by The Centre in 10 factories in Vietnam did not return to work after pregnancy

• Feeling inadequate as parents: 95% of parents* who live separately from their children expressed feeling guilty about their inadequate parenting functions

How does WeCare work?

• WeCare starts with an on-site needs assessment that evaluates current policies and systems, worker demographics, and identifies needs

• Based on the results of the assessment, we help the supplier to choose and select the most appropriate and feasible activities from a range of WeCare services 

• Once activities are defined, we work with the supplier to implement them

• A communications package including short videos and worker stories are included in the programme

• An impact evaluation and a workshop to agree on a long-term sustainable plan to continue with the good practices is delivered at the end of the programme

Which services are included in the WeCare package?

WeCare a flexible package that allows factories to choose from a menu of activities based on the results of an initial needs assessments. This programme therefore offers flexibility and creates ownership for suppliers.  

WeCare activities include (but are not limited to): 

• Family Day (mandatory) – factories organise a series of fun activities in the factory that allow parents and children to bond

• Migrant Parents Training – parents learn about their children’s needs, how to support them both in-person and remotely, and how to strengthen communication

• PhotoVoice Programme (attached to Migrant Parents Training, 25 parents) – parents are trained in photography and story-telling and are encouraged to engage with their children through photography activities

• SmartWatch Programme (attached to Migrant Parents Training, 50 children) – parents are given SmartWatches and training on how to use them, which are then distributed to their children to facilitate better parent-child communication

• Parent-child Activities – these can be organised online or in-person in factories to strengthen parents’ bond with their children

• Child Friendly Space or After School Centres – a safe space where workers’ children can stay when school is not in session

• Responsible Recruitment of Migrant Workers – the training strengthens factory’s management and recruitment systems and processes with a particular emphasis on migrant workers

• Youth Development Programme – factories learn how to create inclusive hiring and support systems for young workers with a focus on skill-building, training and safe work positions

• Training the Trainer Programme – staff within factories are trained to deliver our programmes independently

Our WeCare Plus programme is an expansion of our regular WeCare programme. It aims to support women workers directly and supports factory management and HR staff to design and implement strong maternity protection programmes. It also includes training on sexual harassment prevention as well as training for fathers. WeCare Plus includes the following additional options:

• Maternity protection support

• Breastfeeding rooms

• Strengthening awareness on prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace
  

Please contact us for more details on each of the above activities.

Benefits of WeCare 

• Ensures that the chosen activities are well matched to the requirements of parent workers and their families

• Takes into account the needs of suppliers

• Targets the challenge closest to workers’ hearts: their families and children, and their personal development

• Provides consultancy, training and practical support for the management to build family friendly workplaces 

• Ensures employers are equipped to sustain the services and activities without external support. Currently 80% of employers continued with the activities and services (e.g. Child Friendly Spaces) after the initial year

• Has proven to contribute to worker retention, lower turnover rates and recruitment costs, reduced risk, enhanced reputation, enhanced productivity and improved performance. 

• The programme is delivered by The Centre’s highly skilled consultants who build on their experience in implementing the programme in over a hundred companies across sectors in the last three years.