By Kathryn Mayer
When Chelsey Gonzalez, SHRM-CP, vice president of HR at software company Acklen Avenue in Nashville, asked conference attendees what challenges working parents face, arms shot up with answers during her session at SHRM INCLUSION 2024 outside Denver. Not having enough time off work to take care of their kids—and themselves—when they are sick. Not getting enough sleep. Trying to stay healthy. Managing chaos. Juggling personal and professional priorities. Arranging school drop-offs and pickups. Trying to find childcare if day care or school is closed. Ensuring their employer knows they are actually working, and want to work, despite their family responsibilities.
While the joys of parenthood abound, so do the challenges for parents, including those in the workplace, Gonzalez said. “There’s a lot of work that has been done already, but there’s still much room for improvement,” she said at a session on Nov. 7. A number of strategies can help, she said, calling for HR leaders in the room to consider them to help not only employees, but employers at large.
Consider leave policies. If an employer doesn’t currently offer paid parental leave, that’s one of the first places to start. A growing number of organizations offer above what’s required by law, Gonzalez said. Just as important, some employers offer equal leave for both parents, which is vital to provide working parents with the right amount of help.
“Some organizations are giving the birthing parent 12 weeks, 14 weeks, 16 weeks, but then a nonbirthing parent doesn’t get the equal amount,” she explained. “That puts a lot of pressure on the birthing parent to care for that child, and not very much time for the nonbirthing parent to be involved. So that’s something to consider. Could your organization offer both birthing and nonbirthing parents the same amount, or at least increase it?” Employers can also offer flexible leave usage so that a nonbirthing parent can use paid time off (PTO) sporadically rather than all at once—which may work better for a new family, including the birthing parent.
Implement return-to-work policies. “When you think about parents that are coming back after their parental leave, oftentimes what can be missed is that transition before and that transition after,” Gonzalez said. “The last thing you want to do is have a parent come back from parental leave and no one welcomes them back, no one tells them what to expect, there’s no communication whatsoever about what the next six to nine weeks looks like for them.”
She continued: “Sometimes what happens is a parent comes back, they show up, and it’s expected to be business as usual. But what’s happened is that [the life of that] parent has now shifted. Their reality has shifted because now there’s a new member of their family.” Organizations can support new parents by allowing employees to phase out of their role before leave—or phase back in after leave—if possible.
“Put together a plan for coming back to work,” Gonzalez said, adding that organizations should also remind new parents of any additional benefits or resources that are available.
Regular communication about expectations, adjustments, and desires is also important. For instance, some managers may assume a new parent doesn’t want to be involved in a demanding project or attend an out-of-town trip. But employers shouldn’t exclude them; instead, they should give them the option, she said.
Offer flexible work arrangements. Remote work and hybrid offerings are essential to the equation, as is allowing workers to control and shift the hours in which they get work done. According to Gonzalez, some questions HR and other company leaders should ask themselves include: When can the work be done? Where can the work be done? Does it have to be in the office? Employers can consider varying work hours to allow for things such as children’s extracurricular activities, school pickups and drop-offs, homework help, and more.
Implement childcare support and resources. This isn’t solely about onsite child care—although that benefit is embraced by some employers. Offering various other benefits, including stipends, on- or near-site care, and backup care, should be considered. Employers that offer child care benefits see higher levels of retention, recruitment, productivity, presence, and employee satisfaction, Gonzalez said.
Improve benefits eligibility. Consider shortening waiting periods for benefits, Gonzalez said.
Many employers enforce 30- to 90-day eligibility periods for benefits for new employees. But that presents a big problem for many employees, including working parents, who rely on parental leave; PTO; medical, vision, and dental care; and other important benefits—both for themselves and their children. “If you can’t shorten the waiting periods, can you at least give immediate access to the critical benefits?” Gonzalez asked. “That’s one less thing that your employees have to stress about if they’re moving into your organization.” Also, she said, shortening the benefits eligibility period can be a big win for employers in their talent acquisition efforts.
Offer financial support programs. Health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, and dependent care flexible spending accounts can be a huge boost to working parents, Gonzalez said. Employer contributions toward those accounts is even better. Is there any additional support to offer employees who travel for work and have children? Going on business trips can incur additional childcare costs, she said, which employers might consider covering.
Ensure you have an inclusive workplace culture. If you can’t implement other benefits because of a limited budget or other constraints, “at least start” with creating an inclusive workplace culture, Gonzalez said.
That means considering employees’ needs—including those of working parents—when organizing company events, planning meetings, and more. “When you’re organizing a holiday party, consider the logistics,” she said. “What time of day is this being offered? Is it on a weekday at seven o’clock; is it on a weekend? [That’s] when parents will have to get a babysitter.” Likewise, if parents on your team have to leave to pick up their child from day care after work, can you shift a meeting from 4 p.m. to earlier in the day? “I recognize that it’s going the extra mile to ask this question, to train up your managers to ask these questions, but these are real, lived experiences that your working parents are considering,” Gonzalez said.
Finally, as essential as having family-friendly benefits and resources in your arsenal is, they won’t do much good if employees don’t know they exist, she said. “Especially as it relates to benefits, we sometimes don’t communicate what’s available,” Gonzalez said. “We assume people can just look at the resources and read it for themselves, and that they’ll do with it what they need. But onboarding is usually a blur. Regularly promoting this is vital.”
