Almost everyone can benefit from the opportunity to work flexibly. However for anyone with caring responsibilities, flexible working is a must, not a nice to have. In this article, we’ll explore why - and share some suggestions for crafting an approach that helps you retain the talented parents and carers in your team.
Parents and carers currently make up about 40% of the workforce. Yet recent research suggests that employers are not attuned to their needs, with 40% of parents reporting that they’ve considered quitting their job because of difficulty balancing work and caring responsibilities.
The same study found that over a fifth of parents said that balancing work and childcare had a negative impact on their mental health. This is directly connected to the support they do or don’t receive at work. Shockingly, nearly two thirds of parents said they had received negative feedback or been reprimanded for taking unplanned time off when their child was sick.
Carers are also feeling the impact of lack of support within the workplace - with Carers UK reporting that as many as 40% of employees with unpaid caring duties are considering quitting their job.
There are many reasons why flexible working can be particularly useful for parents and carers.
When you have caring responsibilities, it’s not just your own schedule that you need to be on top of - it’s also things like school pick-ups and medical appointments.
On top of this, however carefully you plan your time, the unexpected is to be expected. Things come up that require immediate attention - like respite care falling through at the last minute. In these circumstances, having the trust and space to prioritise your loved ones - and know that you can catch up on work when you are able to - is essential.
To be a parent or a carer is to be in a space of constant evolution and stretch. There’s very little that can actually prepare you for the emotional, practical and cognitive load of being responsible for someone else.
With this in mind, it’s no wonder that people with caring responsibilities often struggle to strike a balance with other aspects of their life, including work. Offering flexible working can help allow people to be more present in both their professional and personal lives, reducing stress and guilt.
As well as just being the right thing to do, providing flexible work for parents and carers brings huge benefits for organisations.
Allowing parents and carers the space to design a way of working that works for them frees them up to bring greater energy and creativity to their work.
If you're a customer facing organisation, it’s highly likely that working parents represent at least some of your target audience. Even if you work in a B2B environment, the skills that parents and carers develop naturally - ruthless prioritisation, increased resilience, high adaptability - are highly sought after.
Providing flexible working and other benefits for parents and carers can also help with retention. Being able to be with your loved ones for ‘moments that matter’ cultivates a deep sense of loyalty and commitment.
There are a number of ways to make your flexible working policy and practices really work for those with caring responsibilities. In this section, we break down some ideas to help you tailor your organisation’s approach.
If you’re looking to make your approach to flexible working more attractive for parents and carers, the first thing to do is align on what you want your offering to look like.
We recommend an approach that goes beyond the bare minimum. In case you’re wondering what that minimum looks like - in the UK, everyone now has the legal right to request flexible working from day one of employment. Employers are required to consider the request and must consult with employees if they reject it.
Great flexible working policies not only make it easy for everyone to request changes to their working pattern - they also define default entitlements proactively. This could mean offering hybrid or fully remote options, having ‘core hours’ with flexibility on start and finish times or making part-time roles possible across the business.
Whatever your default, it’s helpful to give examples in your policy that are relevant to working families and carers to demonstrate that you are invested in looking out for their specific needs.
We recommend that your flexible working policy uses language that expressly includes parents and carers of all genders and situations. Any comms around flexible working should also be intentionally inclusive to avoid doubt on entitlements and encourage dads to take advantage of flex too.
Looking beyond your flexible working policy is also important. There are lots of other opportunities to connect the dots and support working parents and carers.
For example, you could tailor your parental leave and pay policies to explicitly give your team members the option for phased returns to work, or consider a ‘work from anywhere’ policy to ensure that parents who have family in other countries can lean on their support network.
Having clear policies and practices is important - but it’s not the only thing that matters when it comes to creating a great environment for working parents.
Just like any other group, the needs of parents and carers vary widely - so it’s important to lean in and listen to what different team members would find most helpful - and remember that these needs are also likely to evolve over time.
For parents, a lot of focus is rightly placed on the initial return to work period. Whilst this is a huge transition, each life stage brings different challenges. It’s vital that line managers are conscious of the times of the year parents are likely to have more on their plate - e.g. throughout the summer holidays.
It's important to make checking in on work-life balance a regular and consistent part of 1:1’s for anyone with caring responsibilities. Not only is this important on a human level, it also helps managers to understand whether current flexible working arrangements still feel helpful and make adjustments where necessary.
Managers can also work with parents and carers to help them protect non-working time and empower them to set clear expectations around availability with the rest of the team.
Finally - it’s important to make team activities accessible and inclusive for parents and carers. Those with additional caring responsibilities should always feel welcome, but social events - especially those taking place outside of working hours - shouldn’t feel obligatory. Sometimes parents or carers may simply prefer to spend time with their family instead.
Flexible working is a key part of making your organisation an attractive place for working parents and those with caring responsibilities. Having a clearly defined approach - and taking the time to embed it fully - will benefit everyone and help you to retain incredible talent.
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