What benefits do working parents really want?
And how you can consider flexibility to bolster positive workplace culture for all.
With International Women’s Day approaching, I was asked for a press piece to reflect on how this year’s theme ‘Accelerate Action’ applies to my business. It got me thinking about what I’m most proud of in our predominantly female-run company.
As a working parent myself, I feel fairly in tune with the benefits working parents want from their employers. A cycle-to-work scheme or gym membership they don’t have time to use? Probably not. In my opinion, what working parents really want is to be able to show up when their children need them.
I get that if you’re a brain surgeon then this might not be feasible. But for most people I know and based on what I’m seeing in recent media campaigns, people just want some guilt-free flexibility in their working week.
Does it seem that flexibility, or the lack of, is generally more of a women’s issue?
For me, as I live in a 50/50 household - I’m discussing this in the context of parents in general. But in terms of the industry I’ve worked in most of my career, and according to the British Beauty Council’s “Value of Beauty report, 81% of beauty’s workforce are women as are over 86% of business-owners. So, the beauty industry is uniquely placed to share useful insights into the possible biases that exist when it comes to childcare responsibilities.”
Biases being the operative word.
Especially at times like now in winter, where the kids are endlessly ill, I often find myself saying to Dan (my husband) “how do people who aren’t self-employed do this?”. It feels like there’s a huge potential for guilt and stress when you can’t show up to work as expected. It’s something I also hear from a lot of my female friends. Tearing their hair out, trying to make each day work based on a schedule that was set up to fail.
Is self-employment the answer?
Self-employment offers more workplace flexibility in that you can cancel when you need to and you have no boss to deny you time off. But it’s does come with trade-offs. You might feel pressure to say yes to every opportunity in case it affects business growth or customer retention, or if you do have to flex to suit, say a child being off sick, you might not actually earn any money at all.
You can lack boundaries, especially when making up for the times when you can’t work, which then can impact your personal life and even mental health.
Do employers need to lead the way?
I put a poll out on social media and a lot of working parents responded (all female, I might add). The common theme? They want “flexibility, appreciation and more time”.
This is something I’m passionate about. Providing flexibility not just for parents, but for anyone who has a life outside of work (spoiler: that’s everyone).
Parenting however is a great example, because children’s lives aren’t flexible – school and nursery hours must be adhered to. But businesses don’t have to be that rigid.
Flexibility is motivating for everyone, not just parents
A good working relationship should begin with an open conversation about what is ideal for each employee based on their personal circumstance and what the employer needs from their worker to do a good job. From there, you can build a working week and a set of expectations to suit both parties. And yes, it sounds that simple, because it is. If you let it be.
Flexibility has to be respected
This might make me unpopular, but the challenge with accommodating flexibility is that people will take the piss. But in my experience, it’s rarely intentional. That’s why setting clear boundaries from the start is crucial.
Specific guidelines on how flexibility plays out in these areas is a great place to start:
Which days a week are people working? I don’t think people need to be full time to be effective.
Can they switch their working days and what is the process for this?
What hours do they do, and if they want to be flexible with those, what is the process for letting the relevant team know when they are available to support? Again, does it actually matter if people do 8 - 4 or 10 - 6 on different days? Generally not in my experience.
When last minute schedule changes arise, what is the process, so the team can accommodate? People have lives outside of work that will impact their day sometimes, and that’s ok. Do you really want to add additional problems to someone’s already stressful day but being difficult about this?
Where do they need to base themselves and can that not only be flexible, but what’s the process for letting people know when they should meet the team Vs work elsewhere. Getting together is great for morale and development, but does it really need to be all the time?
Holiday booking processes so everyone is in the loop, but also clear guidelines on what’s out of bounds when people are out of the business.
Setting boundaries on times to communicate - whilst people can work around their personal lives, I also don’t agree with them inflicting that on others who like to stick to a more standard 9-5. So where possible, emails could be scheduled and notes drafted, so your communication takes place at the time that suits that person you’re speaking to, not your own schedule.
What else are you open to? For example, could you accommodate a team member working abroad for a month? We’ve had people working in Australia and made it work.
I truly believe most things are possible to accommodate as long as everyone involved is good at communication and respectful of the agreements made between both parties.
The business benefits of offering flexible work arrangements
Not to sound like a master manipulator, but by accommodating individual needs, employees are likely more engaged, more productive and incentivised to do their best at the moments they’re fully present and available. If someone is going to shirk work, they’ll do that whether you micromanage them, or not.
It’s not nice living in a world where you’re always doing something to half of your ability – unable to give your job and children the best of you because you’re spread too thinly and have to choose where to place your focus.
When plans don’t work out or schedules have to change due to sickness, school holidays, family emergencies, showing compassion and not making people feel bad is key to a happy and motivated workforce.
Thinking about beauty PR and journalism specifically, there does seem to be a ceiling on it age wise - is this because women tend to be the primary care giver, and they aren’t afforded the flexibility needed to make work, work? It’s not a PR problem, it’s a wider gender / pay gap problem, however, in any female centric industry, should more be done to support parents? Or should there be better support in any industry where there are parents? AKA, everywhere. But this change has to come from the top – business owners, brand directors / CEOs and so on.
The pros to offering tailored flexibility
Hiring costs money, would it not ultimately cost less to retain talent and keep people engaged? In my experience it’s more effective to have an excellent person part time than a mediocre one for the full week.
Employees that feel supported and understood are far more motivated. More motivated means more output and better standards of work.
Could we inspire a culture change – wouldn’t it be great if when our children reach a working age, they are instinctively more compassionate and expect the same in return all because they’ve seen their parents show and experience it themselves.
Less time wasted – parents that have flexibility probably put every second of their time working to good use. There’s no wasting time, checking social media, doing life admin etc. In return, the company isn’t paying for this.
If you’re interested in reading more about these kinds of things, here’s a couple of other posts from me on creating good company culture and the challenges of switching from work mode to parent mode.