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Parents are torn between their work and children during the workday
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School and work schedules almost never work together and this brings great pain to parents
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Time shifting for employees and making their schedule flexible is a great step to a happier workforce
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Remote work also can help as the parent can step away to take a child to or pickup from school
One of my jobs had a daycare onsite and I used to watch parents bring their children at 6:30 am. It was hard to tell who was in worse shape – the children or the parents. These poor children came in hoisted on their parents dead asleep in their pj’s. They daycare workers are happy as their charges are passed out for the next couple of hours. Of course, when these darlings wake up, demons infiltrate their bodies and all hell breaks loose! God bless those childcare workers – they are so brave!
Once these children start school, that brings a significant problem. Most businesses start their workday before elementary school starts so the parents need to find someone to take care of their children while they commute and start their workday. Depending on the commute, this may be as long as a three-hour gap. Of course, the reverse happens at the end of the day when elementary school gets out about 3ish and someone needs to pick up the children.
What if these parents could stay with their children, drop them off at school and then come into work? Or, what if they could work from home and get their children after school? Talk about a worker that would be loyal to their company! They would do so much for their employer!
Yet, many companies aren’t willing to make any accommodation for these parents. The boss, otherwise known as Atilla the Hun, marches up and down the cubicles making sure everyone in their places with happy faces ready to make money for the company. The single workers are hung over from the night before. The parents are dead sober but worrying about their children. Of course, there are also parents that come in hung over. Not from alcohol but from lack of sleep…slurred speech, drooping eyelids, and falling asleep at their desk make the similar to the young singles.
Flex Schedule
Flexible working is a great step forward. If one parent goes in late and the other parent has an early shift and can leave early to pick up the child, that solves a great worry for parents. Of course, the couple won’t see much of each other but that happens with parenthood.
Flex schedule takes some effort to make sure all of the business needs are covered but the benefits are well worth it. With a happy workforce, productivity will increase as the grateful parents do not want to lose this wonderful benefit.
Consistent Schedule
Parents need to have a consistent or predictable schedule. Some businesses only let the employee know 24 hours in advance of a shift. Hardly enough time to arrange for child care. Even though many companies don’t want the hassle of a consistent schedule, employees will be much happier if they can forecast their schedule.
Remember: employees must come first before customers (see the blog I wrote earlier).
Working Remote
This is a touchy subject for many supervisors. However, giving the parent an option to work remote allows them to take and bring back their children from school. Yet, they can still get the work done.