Across the country there have been various school and daycare closures due to worsening COVID-19 cases, leaving many working parents rushing to find last-minute support. However, the childcare services industry, like many others, remains understaffed, causing many working parents to be pulled between work and family. It’s important companies consider working parents who may fall victim to the “care crunch” as they struggle to find suitable childcare options or become increasingly distracted by responsibilities effecting them at home.
In the struggle to find adequate childcare, increased support and communication between employer and employee will be essential. Below, we share several ways employers can help support working parents in today’s changing world.
Time Flexibility
One of the most needed accommodations for working parents is flexible schedules. Especially without adequate childcare support or after-school programs, parents of young children may need certain hours of the day to pick up or drop off their children at school or to be home supervising their children. The timing of when and how long the employee needs to be available for their child will vary, but it is important for management to listen to the needs of their employees and determine what flexibility could be offered to them, if possible, and how responsibilities or schedules can adjust.
For households with both parents working full time and sharing childcare responsibilities, some employees may be able to shift their schedules so they complement their partner, with one parent available for the child when needed. This may mean employees work nontraditional hours or perhaps work part of the day in-office and part from home.
Communication
Especially as many employees return to the office, communication between HR and management teams and staff will be essential to determine how scheduling conflicts can be handled and what flexibility could be offered to employees. Preemptive communication between management and employees can also help avoid scheduling blunders as children’s schedules or childcare availability shifts.
While simple, the support and acknowledgement leaders can provide working parents by checking in on how they are feeling and communicating about how they are managing both their work and home responsibilities can be powerful in helping parents feel supported. When leaders regularly ask about their employees’ children, they can not only form a deeper connection with their people, but also know when additional challenges or stressors come up that could impact their work. Being in-the-know may be essential for retaining and supporting productive employees with a healthy and happy work and home life.
Employee Support Groups
An effective way to help support working parents, especially during a season of transition such as returning to the office, is by creating a community of peers who understand and can walk through these challenges together. While an individual’s team and management are always a resource, gathering a group of other working parents experiencing similar challenges can help with emotional support, as well as tactical support of ideas and advice to better structure their days.
These groups could also be a resource for group childcare where multiple parents pitch in to help organize childcare or set up carpools and after-school care among coworkers to help distribute workload.
Benefits
There are several benefits a business may already be providing that add great value to working parents and communicating how to maximize them could help retain some working parents. These include:
- Employee assistance programs: To support working parents, employers can promote stress management solutions and mental wellness benefits like therapy, confidential counseling, referral services, financial guidance, health assessments and more.
- Flexible spending accounts/Dependent Care Accounts: In some cases, flexible spending accounts can be used to pay for child-care expenses, co-pays and more. Reminding employees of this and other ways to utilize their pre-tax dollars may help ease some financial concerns.
- Reimbursement for daycare: If many employees within the organization have young children, offering reimbursement or stipends for childcare may be a wonderful way of supporting employees and retaining working parents.
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