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    Samantha O’Byrne, IWF Head of Human Resources

    Providing support across the organisation

    By Samantha O’Byrne, IWF Head of Human Resources

    “Our welfare considerations have focused on creating a culture where everyone feels thought of, valued and united, whether working together in the office or remotely.”

    Our staff team at the IWF has grown rapidly over the past two years and we now employ about 70 people who are based across the UK and Brussels.

    Half of the team work together every day as one unit in our Cambridge Hotline, where they assess child sexual abuse images. The other half work predominantly from home but come together regularly for individual team gatherings, meetings at the office or company-led events.

    Our welfare considerations have focused on creating a culture where everyone feels thought of, valued and united, whether working together in the office or remotely. Ensuring that everyone has the right tools to be effective and feel connected has been vital in this process.

    We have an exceptional welfare programme in place to support our Hotline, which is scrutinised and endorsed by external subject matter experts, including a high court judge, a clinical psychologist and law enforcement.

    Culturally, we work hard to ensure we bring people together often, making them feel connected and ensuring they have an equal voice. We hold routine, organisation-wide online meetings, run an employee-led staff forum, take regular surveys to seek employee opinion and give people responsible roles on the welfare group and environmental team.

    Our groups and meetings combine office-based and home workers to give a rounded view across the organisation. This helps to foster collaboration and develop strong relationships among colleagues, wherever they are in the country.

    However much we have grown, we strive for equity across the organisation wherever possible, for example offering welfare perks that suit both those at home and in the office. We know that needs differ across individual teams and we meet those differences when we can, yet we always prioritise a consistent and balanced approach to staff welfare.