How Employers Can Support Working Parents During a Pandemic

COVID-19 stress is wreaking havoc on workforces. Here’s how business leaders can make employee mental health and wellbeing a priority, during and after a pandemic.

The global pandemic has radically affected modern workplaces, with many companies adopting remote or hybrid environments and employees facing mounting uncertainties. Working parents have twice the challenge in adjusting to this new normal. On top of adapting to changing workplace dynamics, parents are scrambling to find suitable child care solutions—often resulting in them feeling stretched thin and guilty. 

 

In the early days of COVID-19, 80% of parents were tasked with educating their children at home. With homeschooling and e-learning came additional closures of afterschool activities, sports programs, and social play dates. Working parents have limited resources available to support this changing dynamic, which has resulted in 40% of surveyed parents meeting the criteria for major depression or moderate to severe anxiety. 

 

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Until the pandemic is behind us, parents will continue to deal with challenging school conditions, difficulty finding child care solutions, and continued uncertainty. It has become such a problem that one in five working parents said they or their partner is considering leaving the workforce if they can’t find an adequate solution. 

 

What can businesses do to avoid losing these valuable employees and provide support for their situations? Here are some steps employers can take to help working parents while also prioritizing nutrition, exercise, and mental health resources.

1. Offer Flexible Work Schedules 

Many businesses have adjusted to remote or hybrid workplace environments that allow non-essential staff to work from home. Working from home can help parents because it can allow staff to shift between work and child care responsibilities as needed. In reality,  some working parents have cited that they’re being asked to work more hours than they did in the office. One woman even filed a lawsuit alleging her company fired her because her kids were too distracting on work calls. 

 

Continued flexibility is crucial for businesses looking to support working parents. Flexibility goes beyond just offering remote work, however. As teams set regular meetings, employers should encourage discussions around what time works best for their entire team. Early morning meetings may not be as feasible for a parent who needs to sign their child into e-learning, for example. Mobile-friendly collaboration tools can also be a great way for parents to stay connected while juggling child care responsibilities. Collaboration tools like Slack allow employees to quickly respond on their mobile device when away from their computer.

2. Embrace the Art of Communicating

These are uncertain times and there is no all-encompassing solution to helping your employees manage changing workplace dynamics and childcare. Start by creating a comfortable environment with transparent two-way communication. 

 

Leadership can encourage employees to share what’s going on in their lives, talk through challenges, and help them navigate the issues. Employees will feel grateful to have a platform to share their feedback and the company can use this information to support their specific situation. 

 

Forums or groups can be another great resource for employees, especially working parents, to share stories and offer support. 

3. Encourage Balance and Time Off

It can be hard to step away from work when you work out of your home. Nonetheless, studies show that regular breaks actually increase employee productivity. Even something as small as taking a lunch break helps 90% of employees feel refreshed and ready to work. 

 

Encouraging employees to take breaks as needed during the day, and to take days off as needed, can yield many benefits including:

 

• Increased energy and focus
• Decreased stress and improved mental wellness
• Creativity boost and fresh perspective on difficult projects 
• Additional time to build healthy habits (like eating healthy, meditating, exercise, and other self-care)

4. Provide Proper Technology 

Despite workplaces and schools moving online, not all families have access to enough devices or the proper internet service to support this new dynamic. Employers should ensure their staff can access technology that supports their full scope of remote working needs. In some cases, employers have even offered stipends for employees to use as needed on tools for remote working. Providing employees with the right tools to be successful allows them to focus on their job and helps transform employee benefit programs. 

5. Incorporate Wellness Resources 

To minimize the negative impact working in the new norm is taking on parents’ mental health and wellbeing, provide corporate wellness programs to help them connect with, for example, mental health resources, mindfulness training, and physical activity challenges that support employee wellness. 

 

When choosing a corporate wellness program, employers can support working parents by making sure it includes:

 

• Digital coaching programs with specialized family and working parent experts 
• Message boards and forums for parents to seek advice and share stories
• Mindfulness and stress management challenges to remind parents to take time for themselves during busy work weeks 

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6. Make Time to Socialize

Don’t confuse work meetings with socialization for employees. Although work meetings are important, employees need time to socialize about non-work topics as well. This is especially true for working parents, who may feel like their time is limited and look to cut unnecessary socialization out of their day. 

 

Employers with remote teams can introduce Zoom lunch breaks where employees can take time to socialize and engage. Offering virtual happy hours, exercise classes, and team outings provide regular opportunities for employees to let out steam. These also lead to healthier work relationships, which lowers stress, increases happiness, and promotes healthy habits. Employers who focus on building connections between employees, especially working parents, will see that providing holistic support for their workforce pays off in the short term and the long term. 

If you’re looking for ways to prioritize the health and total wellbeing of working parents in your workforce contact us today. We can help your organization provide the right resources across all aspects of the wellbeing spectrum to ensure parents get the wellness programs they deserve.

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