VP, People Development at Collaborative Solutions, overseeing global Talent & OD leadership across the organization.
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We all know 2020 has thrown us some curveballs. Just as many parents finally started to figure out this whole work from home scenario, they were hit with navigating another new reality — remote or hybrid learning for their children. Organizations are struggling to figure out how to best support their working parents who have children back in school ... from the kitchen table.
Stories keep emerging about the stress and anxiety parents — and their kids — are experiencing. Working while parenting has always been precarious. With the pandemic, whatever little structure that was in place has come tumbling down. By July, 13% of working parents had to leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for children due to pandemic-related challenges, and according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, more than 1 in 5 don’t know whether they will be able to fully return to work.
Parents have lost even more productivity as many school districts started the school year with remote learning. In fact, far from solving working parents' problems, back-to-school has added new ones, with erratic education schedules creating constantly changing care needs that experts say are often the hardest to fix.
Organizations have been struggling to figure out how best to support this large population of employees. Unfortunately, there is not an easy, one-size-fits-all approach, but there are some creative ways that organizations can show support for their working parents.
1. Offer flexible work schedules.
Six months ago, most HR and IT leaders insisted their organizations did not have the infrastructure to support a fully remote workforce, yet they made it happen in a matter of weeks. Similarly, many companies may be quick to say they cannot support nontraditional work hours due to customer expectations. Remember that your customers may be making adjustments to schedules and work hours to better support their staff as well. Allowing your employees to self-manage their time and tasks shows that the organization has a deep level of employee trust. Not only will this gesture go a long way to strengthen employee commitment, but it will also deepen engagement and increase discretionary effort.
When announcing flexible work schedules, get your executives involved. Not only should the messaging come from leadership, but they should also walk the walk — show employees it’s OK to step away throughout the day to help set up school Zoom calls or take a call with a teacher.
Rather than announcing flexible hours via traditional email announcement, consider a video message which allows emotions like empathy and compassion to shine through. Additionally, highlight the importance of open communication and the role it plays in helping each other achieve balance in their work life.
2. Encourage alternate status updates on internal communication tools.
To show dedication to and support of flexible work hours, provide various status messages working parents can display on internal communication platforms. Whether stepping away for a moment to help a child with remote learning or announcing odd/flex hours for the week, communication is key. An example message could be: “Hello! Thank you for your patience while I balance work and (childcare/caretaking/family commitments) during the pandemic. My responses may be delayed at times, so please mark your message as “Urgent” if you need my immediate attention.”
3. Provide educational opportunities.
Although we are a few months into the school year, parents are still struggling with the nuances of remote learning. Consider offering a webinar with a special guest speaker to share insight from an educator’s perspective on creating positive learning experiences. They can share valuable tools, strategies and resources to help both parents and students maintain sanity while successfully working and learning at home.
Now more than ever, working parents need access to courses on how to manage stress and anxiety, how to build resilience and how to balance work and home life. Highlight this type of course content in your LMS. If you don’t have a formal learning system, sending a link to an article or blog post can go a long way.
4. Launch a discussion series hosted by leadership.
Showing care and concern is one of the best ways to keep employees engaged. Consider offering a lunch-and-learn discussion series dedicated to working parents. This series of intimate and candid conversations led by a member of your leadership team should be centered around the challenges this back to school season has presented and provide employees with an opportunity to engage with others who are experiencing the same thing. This forum gives parents a place to share ideas and can serve as a needed sanity check (e.g., “Oh good, I’m not the only parent who is OK with four hours of screen time every day ...”)
5. Introduce a service like a virtual babysitters club or remote childcare.
All parents need a break once in a while, and services such as these can be a great benefit offering. Consider covering the costs for parents to sign their kids up to participate in an hour of online fun and entertainment to keep kids virtually engaged and give parents some free time. Or partner with a local high school or college to offer tutoring sessions.
Working parents are an integral part of your business. Make the effort to show not only that you support them during this difficult time, but that you are willing to invest in them as well. As a working parent myself, I assure you they will be more than appreciative.
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