Juggling family and professional life can be a major headache for working parents, torn between home and office commitments.

Childcare problems prevent some parents from working at all and, in many cases, at least one partner works only part-time to fit in with their children’s needs.

But a growing number of employers are recognising the importance of helping staff to maintain a better work-life balance, and a new award aims to encourage even more.

The Family Friendly Employer of the Year Award will announce its first winner today from six finalists who have shown how family-friendly work practices can benefit both children and parents — and the companies they work for.

Organised by the NSPCC and Parents At Work — a campaigning charity providing support for working parents — the awards are designed to reward companies who help staff to maintain a good work-life balance.

Charlie Monkcom, NSPCC employment and business practices adviser, says the finalists have introduced family-friendly schemes that include flexible working, creative after school and holiday care, and programmes to support parents when children are ill.

“They understand that time away from the workplace is needed when there are family emergencies or important milestones such as school plays or sports days,” he says. “But the companies also benefit with better staff retention, low absenteeism and improved productivity.” One of the six finalists, the electronics retailer Comet, offers parents a range of family-friendly initiatives including flexible working and tax-free vouchers that can be used against the cost of childcare.

Ingrid Blake, a PA at Comet from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, uses the vouchers to pay for the holiday club that her two boys, aged eight and five, attend during school holidays. She also works part-time, from 9am until 3pm, so she can take and collect the boys from school. “The company has always been flexible and I have been able to change my hours as my needs have changed,” she says. “It was an important consideration when I was thinking of returning to work after the birth of each of my sons.”

If one of them is ill she takes compassionate leave, but keeps in touch with the office via e-mail. The company also allows her to take time off to attend school functions and make up the hours later.

“I love my work and it stimulates me but it also allows me to be there for my boys. It means I am fulfilled at both work and home.”

Comet and the other finalists were chosen from nearly 100 entries. And, in an inspired move, youngsters aged between 11 and 18 from NSPCC advisory groups, were asked to draw up the judging criteria, devise questions and sit on the judging panel. “We wanted to involve the youngsters because balancing family and work commitments is just as important to young people as it is to their parents,” says Monkcom.

June Harris, another of the finalists, says that her nine-year-old daughter, Naomi, would agree. Harris is a secretary at Linda Taylor Associates, a recruitment company in Manchester.

Harris works during term time to fit in with Naomi’s schooling, part-time during the six-week summer break, and takes her holidays to match other school holidays and half-term. “Naomi loves it because I am at home when she is,” she says. “When I worked all year round in my previous job, Naomi went to a childminder and it was a real worry wondering if I would get finished on time to collect her. I was always on pins in case the boss asked me to do something else as I was leaving. I also feel that I missed out on part of her growing up because I was always working.

“Now I am not made to feel guilty if I take time off to do something with Naomi and life is much less stressed.”

The other four finalists are the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, a local authority whose initiatives include producing a “Family Matters” booklet and running an annual staff survey on work-life balance; St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides an in-house nursery and popular out-of-school activities; SOHA Housing, of Didcot, Oxfordshire, which offers initiatives including home working, and stress management programmes; and Happy Computers, a London-based computer training organisation, which includes initiatives such as massages for stressed parents.

Monkcom says the finalists had “inspiring” ideas — but that other companies could do more, particularly to help parents of older children and those working long hours.

“The finalists are making enormous strides in responding to their employees’ needs,” he says. “Many other employers are making changes but a lot of others are still doing just the basic legal minimum. We hope the awards will become an annual event to encourage more organisations to make themselves family friendly.”

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