How to ask your company to become an
Employer with Heart 2.0
Asking your company or organisation to sign up to the Employer with Heart charter can be a daunting task but we’re here to help. There’s no right or wrong way to do it so we’ve put together a suggestion of how you might approach them based on feedback from other parents. You might find it helpful to use our template email and ready-to-go presentation as part of your conversations.
Make first contact
While facts and figures are important, it’s often the personal stories that resonate when talking to your own organisation. We’ve created a draft template email for you to personalise and send to your manager, HR/People department or senior leadership team. You might also like to attach the Employer Guidance Pack. Parents tell us this was a helpful first step to introduce the issues around prematurity and parental leave, of which many people are unaware.
Get support
If your workplace has a parents and carers’ network or similar, you could introduce the charter to them and ask for advice on how to best present it to senior leaders. A representative might be able to take your request further on your behalf. Other parents may have had similar experiences and be able to join forces with you. Your line manager could be another ally, so it’s worth speaking to them too.
Have a conversation
It’s very powerful to directly talk key decision makers through the reasons for becoming an Employer with Heart. We’ve put together a presentation that you can give to senior leaders that covers what the charter is, why they should sign up and how to do it. The document is a PDF and the last slide can be signed and emailed directly back to us along with updated policies.
Offer to discuss further
Changing employment policies can take time and require lots of sign-off by different people. You might suggest meeting other colleagues to talk through the presentation or offer to respond to any questions.
Follow up with a reminder
If you’ve not heard back, don’t be afraid to follow up with an email reminder. You could resend the Employer Guidance Pack and let them know the final page can be signed and emailed to us along with updated policies.