Back-to-school season is an important time for company leadership and managers to be aware of the challenges faced by their employees who are also parents. The beginning of a new school year involves a number of stressful changes for working parents, such as more complex commutes and busier mornings getting children ready for school, lining up after-school childcare, and helping children adapt to a new routine.
With over 50 million working parents in the US who have children under the age of 18, companies can’t afford to ignore the experience of working parents. Lack of support for these workers will cost companies valuable employees.
Family-friendly policies
If you’re a manager, start by publicly acknowledging that back-to-school season is a stressful time for parents, and ask your team to let you know if there are specific ways you can offer support. This could include allowing extra time for employees to get to work in the morning, and minimizing meetings or other onsite obligations at the beginning and end of the day. Remind employees that caring for a sick child is a legitimate use of sick time.
Highlight relevant benefits often. Apart from providing good information for working parents, the fact that childcare benefits are all too rare can also be a good tool for retention. According to the Society for Human Resources’ Management (SHRM) Employee Benefits Survey for 2019:
- 25% of companies allow workers to bring their children to work in an emergency.
- 11% of companies offer a child care referral service providing employees with the name of a child care provider.
- 4% offer subsidized child care centers or programs.
- 4% offer non-subsidized child care centers (company-affiliated onsite or near-site centers).
Whether or not your company is able to offer these benefits, a personal approach involving vocal support from leadership and managers goes a long way in supporting working parents. Allowing for flexibility in schedules and work locations is one of the best ways of easing the burden of parents trying to manage both work and family schedules.
Normalizing parenting
Companies should over-communicate their support for working parents. Even with a host of family-friendly policies, employees may not feel comfortable taking advantage of the benefits available to them if the culture does not support it. One of the most meaningful ways a company can support families is by making the realities of parenting more visible. Transparency around family obligations- staying home with a sick child, chaperoning a field trip – is most powerful when demonstrated by high level company leaders, who have the ability to normalize these activities and end the plague of secret parenting.
Communication of family-friendly policies can be targeted towards all employees, regardless of whether they have children. Creating a culture that acknowledges that everyone has other things going on in their lives can help remove the stigma from parents admitting that work is not their only priority. Sharing statistics about working parents and practical tips for managers to support them can also go a long way in educating well-intentioned managers who may be unaware of the challenges faced by subordinates with school-aged children.
Would you like to create a more family-friendly and inclusive work environment? We can help. Contact us at info@reverbpeople.com.
