More than one in three working parents believe they’re treated worse than their coworkers. About a quarter of new parents say it’s hard to develop their careers. In fact, one in five says he or she has been passed over for opportunities.
These findings from the Bright Horizons Family Solutions paint a troubling picture of the working parent’s employee experience.
These issues arise from a disconnect between employees and leadership. Leaders may not understand the employee-level experience for working parents—even if those leaders are parents themselves.
Here is what leaders are overlooking and how to create understanding between employees and parents in leadership roles:
Financial Stressors
The cost of raising kids is high, and it’s especially stressful for lower-paid employees. This hurts their overall well-being and can even impact their performance.
In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2017 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that employees who are stressed about money are more likely to miss work, have health issues caused by financial stress, and get distracted during the workday.
Fortunately, when leaders understand working parents’ experience at work, they are better able to create a supportive workplace culture that helps them with these financial burdens.
Tip: Get to know your working parents by surveying them about their financial wellness situation. What are their biggest obstacles?
According to a 2017 FlexJobs survey, parents work to pay for necessities, save for retirement, afford child-related costs, and save for education. Knowing this can influence how you create a financial wellness program and what initiatives you tailor to employees.
For example, if you see most working parents are living paycheck to paycheck, promote a “budgeting for parents” workshop. If you see most are concerned about saving for college, host a seminar about 529 plans, tax-advantaged savings plans.
Most importantly, get leadership involved in these initiatives to demonstrate companywide buy-in.
Working After Hours
The disconnect between leadership and employees can make working parents feel misunderstood and even discriminated against.
As the Bright Horizons index found, parents are worried about how they’re perceived—43% of new parents believe their employer sees them as less committed. What’s more, 39% feel their employer would prefer they found another job.
Working parents might feel like it’s necessary to stay late and work on the weekends. In fact, Bright Horizons’ 2017 index found that one in three new dads felt that becoming a father limited opportunities for advancement.
And when leaders don’t actively discourage this mentality, problems arise.
Tip: Enforce strict policies, like an e-mail curfew or “no log-in weekends,” that deter parents from working outside of office hours.
Also, promote a burnout awareness campaign reminding employees to use paid time off (PTO) so they can enjoy family time. Leaders, especially, should emphasize that time off does not hurt career growth opportunities.
Lastly, consider offering “professional parent” action plans—detailed continuing education plans that help working parents learn the skills they need to achieve their professional goals. Assign leaders to each employee as a sponsor to show everyone, especially parents, that his or her leadership team wants to help him or her advance his or her career.
Emotional Exhaustion
Managing the dual role of being a great parent and a great employee can be draining. This leads to emotional exhaustion, especially for working moms.
Bright Horizons’ 2017 index also found that 69% of working moms say their responsibilities create a mental load, and 52% are burning out from the weight of their household responsibilities.
Tip: Consider offering parent-friendly benefits that offset the stresses of home and work responsibilities. For example, an on-site childcare facility saves parents the time and energy of finding childcare services, as well as dropping off and picking up their children.
Encourage leaders to lead by example. They should use these benefits and share their parenting experiences with employees.
In 2015, Marissa Mayer, then CEO of Yahoo, took less than a month off after giving birth to twins. Her previous maternity leave lasted only 2 weeks, which was her personal choice.
While this doesn’t impact the laws of parental leave, it does send a confusing message to employees. It sets a tone that implies other working parents shouldn’t need to take the full time of their leave.
Leaders need to show they also experience emotional exhaustion and that the benefits being offered help them. This reinforces the message that it’s important to seek emotional relief as a parent.
Job Security
Working parents at the employee level worry more about layoffs than leaders. In fact, Bright Horizons’ 2017 index found that more than 25% of working fathers felt at risk of being fired once they told their employer they were going to be a parent.
This guilt and worry associated with announcing parenthood to employers causes tension and frustration in the workplace. On the one hand, parents shouldn’t feel bad about starting and growing a family. Yet, they also don’t want to face the ongoing discrimination against parents in the workplace.
Tip: Leadership sets the tone for workplace culture. If they’re showing their concerns or frustrations about the business, employees are also going to worry.
Instead, prove job security to employees, including parents, by practicing transparency. When you share large-scale goals and achievements, you’re proving the success of your company and, in turn, the success of your staff.
Show each employee his or her individual impact by tailoring company updates to him or her. Highlight how his or her tasks and projects align with the overall company performance.
Make sure leaders provide equal opportunities to all employees, including parents. Put parents in charge of specific projects, and show how the long-term success of the project impacts the overall health of the organization.
Changing Benefits
Employees rely on their benefits package to make ends meet and prepare for the future. So, naturally, when leadership decides to make changes to employee benefits, they stress out. Seeing their deductibles go up or their premiums spike means they need to make adjustments to their lifestyles.
Just the fear alone of not controlling benefit changes can be distracting for all employees, especially parents.
Tip: Reduce this fear within your workplace culture by starting a dialogue between leadership and employees.
Conduct a survey before changing benefits, and have them vote on their needs and priorities. This way, leaders understand what’s most important to their staff and won’t leave them hanging with less coverage.
Building a supportive workplace culture is essential for helping working parents be the best performers they can be. Bridge the gap between the leadership experience and the employee experience of parents to create understanding.
Graham Shaw is the Head of Channel Sales, North America at LifeWorks, a company that delivers holistic and comprehensive well-being—physical, emotional, financial, professional, and mental—through meaningful and purposeful technology and services. Follow LifeWorks on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.