Working Parents Remain Challenged yet Businesses NEED Them
By Tara Masino, Manager of HR Virtual Services
Under “normal” pre-pandemic conditions working parents were keenly aware of the challenges of managing both their work-life and their family-life. It sometimes could feel like the slightest change in work or with our families could feel at a minimum like a minor inconvenience or a “call in the troops” situation to be able to make both happen seamlessly. And then the world went awry – a global pandemic! Our previously burnt-out working parents became parents in full-blown crisis. While it would appear that there is a vaccine at the end of the tunnel, the damage to our psyche has been done. We have learned a lot about ourselves during this stressful time. We have learned a lot about issues that maybe we had discounted. Things like the importance of talking about and supporting mental health initiatives, the need for quality childcare services, and the importance of open and transparent communication between business leaders and their employees.
The crisis is real – Maven and Great Place to Work conducted the largest ever survey of working parents and found one (1) in three(3) women are considering not returning to the work force after the pandemic and the number of women currently in the workforce is the lowest it has been since 1988 – 33 years. We have seen an alarming 2.2 million women leave the workforce during the pandemic as a result of either the inability to find childcare or the stress created by managing both a full working and childcare schedule.
When employees experience burnout, they are more 20 times more likely to leave your company, less likely to adapt to change and less likely to give extra. If your company is losing women at a high rate and your working parents are experiencing burnout, the impact to your company is significant. There are competitive advantages for companies that inspire working parents including increased employer branding, retention, and productivity.
So, what do the best companies do to focus on working parents and ultimately their bottom line? Here are three recommendations from Great Place to Work, a global authority on building, sustaining, and recognizing high-trust, high performance workplace cultures.
1. Create a holistic approach to the parenting journey – companies that are some of the best places to work offer benefits that encompass the process families or individuals go through to get pregnant, be pregnant, have a baby, and take care of a baby once he/she arrives. These companies offer benefits like:
- Fertility support and coverage
- Telemedicine for pregnant or postpartum families
- Return to work career coaching
- Breast milk shipping
- Childcare support – assistance in finding and subsidizing childcare, navigating changing daycare and school protocols, providing backup childcare, and employee resource groups
2. Diversity is Imperative – supporting parents and investing in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are key priorities and should be discussed together
- Providing a sense of belonging for everyone in the organization no matter who they are or what they do
- Need to address the different drivers of burnout for employees of different races, ethnicities, and genders by asking for their feedback
- Shift thinking to include parents of all different backgrounds as part of your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts
3. Expand parental leave beyond mothers and encourage employees to take full advantage of what the company has to offer
- Offering paid parental leave for all parents helps growing families
- Helps to close the wage gap and allows parents to bring their best selves to work
- By offering benefits to both mothers and fathers, you reinforce that caregiving is a family responsibility
- Encouraging parents to take the leave offered versus just offering the leave is imperative
When companies are better for parents, those same companies grow revenue 5.5 times faster than their competitors. Employees without children are also happier when their parent counterparts are happier. Happy, healthy parents and children are better for business, better for people, and better for the world.
What are your employees saying or not saying? A clear demonstration that you care about your employees and their families is to start the conversation and then make meaningful steps to help them be the best parents and employee’s they can be. A one on one is always healthy but aim to create psychologically safe rooms, even if their virtual still.
At HRBOOST®, all our Boosters happen to be women and many are actively working while raising children or being present grandparents or caregivers. Mental Health is a priority! For Everyone, men and women.
