Every year, National Carers Week asks workplaces and communities to recognise the people providing unpaid care. 

This year’s theme is ‘Care for a carer: Making carers visible’. Caring responsibilities impact who takes leave, who works part-time, who gets to attend conferences and who is promoted, yet they often sit outside the data that institutions rely on to make decisions. 

Three SAGE member institutions have recently earned Cygnet Awards making a positive, evidence-based impact in reducing the barriers for parents and carers to thrive within their workplaces: Burnet Institute, Western Sydney University and the University of Technology Sydney. 

Their approaches differ, but they share a starting point: listen to staff, measure the barrier, and change the system rather than asking individuals to cope with it. 

Changing who is expected to care 

For the Burnet Institute, assessments into the employee experience for parents and carers pointed cultural barriers as much as policy ones.  

Men’s uptake of parental and carer’s leave was low, with inadequate recognition and support for men’s caregiving roles identified as contributing factor. Additionally, 45% of women and 39% of men reported limited knowledge of the leave options available. 

Women bore the career cost, with 22% reporting effects on career progression and personal confidence, and 94% of women who returned to work after parental or carers leave between 2015 and 2017 did so part-time. 

Burnet’s response was to extend 14 weeks of paid parental leave to all parents, removing the distinction between primary and secondary carers, and to increase superannuation contributions to cover up to 12 months of paid and unpaid leave. It also introduced inclusive leave guides, flexible return-to-work arrangements and better lactation facilities. 

The results show up in the numbers. The share of women returning part-time fell to 24% in 2021-23, and six men took the full 14 weeks in 2022-23, compared with none in 2015-17. 

One employee reflected that the extension of parental leave and support for non-birthing partners was “amazing and incredibly necessary,” while another said, “the positive impact on my work and personal life has been immense.” 

Read more about the Burnet Institute’s work for parents and carers here. 

Making parents and carers part of the conversation 

Western Sydney University began with its 2018 all-staff survey, which showed parents felt less able than non-parents to balance work and family and had low awareness of their entitlements.  

Its response combined visibility with practical support: video series, events and awareness campaigns featuring fathers, student parents and carers, resources to help parents, carers and their supervisors navigate workplace conversations, and stronger leave and flexible working provisions. 

Parents’ reported ability to meet family and work responsibilities together rose from 64% in 2018 to 69% in 2025, and around 80% of parents and carers now report positivity about their supervisor’s understanding of their caring commitments. 

“Flexible work matters to me because parenting, being a parent, being a father, is a huge part of my life. It’s fundamental, and my work is important as well. I don’t see why one should outweigh the other, and it’s a win-win,” commented a male professional staff member and parent.   

WSU is also candid about what remains. Its Athena Swan Silver Action Plan commits to improving policy equity for carers distinct from parents. 

Read more about Western Sydney University’s work for parents and carers here. 

Treating carer support as career infrastructure 

The University of Technology Sydney’s fifth Cygnet Award covers flexibility more broadly, but its carer-related actions are a strong example of how support can protect careers.  

Its REACH grant scheme provides up to $10,000 to help researchers re-establish their careers after disruption from caring responsibilities, disability, domestic violence or other significant life events. 

A senior lecturer in economics at UTS credits the scheme with helping her secure a prestigious DECRA Grant from the Australian Research Council. 

“The first REACH grant I received helped ensure my children were cared for while I travelled … It was a gamechanger for me and absolutely helped me to get the ball rolling on my research,” she said. 

UTS has also introduced Core Meeting Hours between 10am and 4pm, with compliance of 84-93% across STEM faculties in 2022-2024 and updated its enterprise agreement to provide gender-neutral parental leave.  

Between 2022 and 2025, the proportion of surveyed STEM academics who agreed that using flexible work harmed their career fell from 20% to 13%. 

Read more about the University of Technology’s work for parents and carers here. 

What these examples have in common 

Across the three institutions, a few patterns stand out. Each started with data that made a hidden barrier visible, whether that was low leave uptake, a high rate of part-time returns or a gap in how parents felt supported.  

Each combined structural change with cultural change, because a policy that people do not know about, or do not feel safe using, changes very little.  

And each measured the outcome, which is what allows these actions to demonstrate impact. 

Creating a carer-inclusive workplace isn’t a single action, it’s an ongoing culture change journey. Visibility allows us to understand which actions will create long-term, systemic impact, rather than relying on assumptions about what carers need.