When we talk about work-life balance, so often we think of creating a situation whereby employees can work and still have time to pursue their hobbies and interests. However, for many workers, especially one group in particular, work-life balance is more about being able to both show up and work and also show up at their kid’s activities, games, and recitals!
We’re talking, of course, about single parents. In the US, a whopping 22 million or about one in four children are being raised in a single-parent household. Among these households, about 80 percent of children live with solo mothers, and approximately 81 percent of those mothers were working before the pandemic hit.
With such a large population at play, you would think that companies would seek to support single parents, and yet most companies are set up in a way that workers without a co-parent or significant support system may struggle to function.
Below, we outline a few cultural changes that you can implement now to better support the solo parents on your payroll.
Fill up your roster
During the pandemic, a high number of women and single mothers were forced to leave the workforce. To best support single parents, you need them among your ranks, so make an effort to rehire these individuals. Of course, you can’t ask during the interview process if they have children or reverse discriminate and only hire those that indicate that they are single parents. You can take steps not to penalize those that have a break in their work history due to the pandemic. If you use an algorithm or search service to screen resumes, make sure they aren’t weeding out those resumes that show a break in work or include verbiage about caregiving and make sure that interviewers are made aware that a resume “gap” is no longer going to be frowned upon in your business.
Stop rewarding overworking
For the longest time, pulling an all-nighter to get a project done was a badge of honor – a symbol of your dedication. In fact, before the pandemic, we very much operated under a system whereby always being on and always being available was the norm. However, study after study suggests that this approach to work doesn’t lead to better outcomes and isn’t even a sign of enhanced productivity! Rather, the only thing it does add up to is a whole lot of burnout! For single parents, this culture often served as a disadvantage as they needed to be offline when focused on their children. The good news is that post-pandemic, more companies are focusing on mission and outcomes and less so on time logged on a computer with some even imposing limits on the amount of time outside of “normal working hours” when their employees can be expected to be reached.
Find your flexibility
If you asked a single parent what one benefit might make their life easier, most would report that a flexible schedule would be a true game-changer. As we touched on above, more companies are moving away from rewarding employees for their hours worked and instead focusing on productivity, which can also mean moving away from the traditional 9-5 workday. Indeed, many businesses are giving workers autonomy to make their schedules – and this isn’t just happening in the white-collar world! Many service industries are transitioning to systems whereby workers can, to a degree, pick their schedules. This is helping single parents to work around the constraints of their children’s schooling and activities.
Take a break
For many folks, the pandemic was a time when the world slowed down. For single parents, however, schools and daycares no longer being open meant that they became not only full-time workers but also full-time parents (and teachers too!). With all this added responsibility, many single parents were DEFINITELY feeling the burn(out!). In turn, they likely hesitated to take a vacation or other paid time off (PTO) in case they needed it to cover Covid-19 related absences. With the pandemic somewhat under wraps, now is the time to encourage those same workers to take a break, use their paid vacation leave, and tap out for a few days to reset and recharge. Have managers walkthrough leave balances with workers, encourage taking PTO, and even model taking time off themselves to encourage their use.
Chip in on childcare
When it comes to supporting single parents, there’s probably no better way to do it than to make childcare more accessible to them. Now, for most businesses, it would be cost-prohibitive to open your own on-site daycare, but even offering some reimbursement to help offset the cost of childcare can go a long way. In fact, in a 2020 survey, 87 percent of workers said company help with daycare costs or educational services would be most helpful, but only about 8 percent of businesses currently offer this perk. Admittedly, for some companies, providing this level of assistance still isn’t feasible, but you can still support the cause by backing legislation aimed at universal childcare programming, as well as paid family leave, both of which are currently gathering steam in both the House and the Senate.
Watch your words
Probably the easiest and cheapest thing to change is the language that you use when you talk about family structure. When you send out your holiday invite, don’t advertise the event as “bring spouses,” and instead note that “plus ones are welcome.” Similarly, don’t assume that a single parent can’t take on a role that requires travel or keeps odd hours and instead train your managers to ask all employees about what their career goals are and what opportunities may be of interest. Finally, encourage managers to proactively check in on single parent employees and normalize asking for help and figuring out solutions to help them better juggle their family life.
What tactics have you employed at your company to best support single parents in your workforce?
