Image by Mylene2401 from Pixabay

Some of us have experienced your home being a workplace for parents and a school for kids. If your kids are small, you have to watch them while working from home. Balancing between work and child care is one of the benefits you can get from working remotely.

Due to the pandemic, many companies tried new work styles, such as remote work and hybrid work. Some of the new workstyles will stay here after the pandemic. I found some articles about childcare and working from home. Some people are happy about it, and some are not, which means some companies plan to set a rule about childcare while working from home.

Remote work for child care

Many parents, especially mothers, are seeking jobs that offer remote work options. Many companies agree with employees’ balancing childcare and work while working remotely.

To many companies, offering remote working jobs is essential for hiring and retaining employees. Many people quit their jobs because companies don’t allow them to work remotely.

When it comes to childcare, women tend to be more responsible, which affects their career decisions. (I talked more about this in the previous article https://medium.com/@WorkstyleOS/will-hybrid-work-widen-the-gender-gap-514191c63c7e).
To engage more female workers, companies need to offer flexible work conditions to balance childcare and work.

Some don’t accept childcare during work

Some companies want to set a rule about remote work. The rule is that children have to be taken care of by somebody else during work hours. (https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/work-from-home-forever-means-no-more-kids-on-office-zoom-calls)

This decision seems to come from the concerns over productivity while working from home and the employee well-being for those who work double shifts of work and parenting.

The pandemic was an emergency, so we could not have avoided having kids around us while working.
However, it will be different once the situation changes and companies adopt remote work or hybrid work as permanent options. It is natural to have some voices saying that we need childcare guidelines while working from home.

Then, new problems such as access to childcare will arise, too.

What companies can do for employees with children

We see only a few companies setting strict rules on remote working and childcare. In order to make an inclusive workplace, what can companies do for parents?

Hybrid work and flexible schedule

Hybrid work allows employees to choose between remote and office work. The flextime system will enable employees to set their working hours. By allowing the parents to design time for work and childcare, they will be able to maintain productivity and quality work. Working can be more flexible, allowing people to work at home and in public places, such as before and after picking up children or while waiting for lessons.

Community

Having people in the company with who you can share the same concerns can be a big help. For example, a Slack channel where people can talk about parenting would be easy to start.

A culture of leaving work on time

Have you felt sorry for leaving work early to pick up your kids? In a corporate culture where working overtime is the norm, you may feel that way. However, if you work at a company where leaving work on time is the norm (which is how it should be), employees may find a balance between work and private life more comfortably.

Employee benefits related to childcare

If a company plans to provide an environment where employees can concentrate on their work, arranging childcare allowances and daycare centers could be the option. (Reference: https://hbr.org/2021/04/childcare-is-a-business-issue)

There are many ways to balance work and parenting, depending on the company’s business, culture, and way of thinking. It is necessary to have a working style that can cover various workstyles and situations, including an emergency like when a child becomes ill.

In addition, in an aging society, it is expected that similar discussions will become more active not only in childcare but also in elderly care.

The future of work is expected to allow workers to switch on and off when they need to maintain their work-life balance.