Parental Flexibility

In a matter of days, the nation’s parents will breathe a collective sigh of relief as Schools return at full capacity for the first time in six months. No more zoom calls interrupted with requests for snacks, no more acting school teacher or breaking from work to put a stop to squabbling siblings.

Within this week’s blog, we are looking ahead to how employers can continue to offer flexibility to parents as potentially still face childcare challenges due to the on-going impact of COVID-19.

It is anticipated that parents could find issues with childcare due to:

• Reduced childcare options. Some schools will be unable to offer breakfast clubs or after school activities due to operating social bubbles 

• Shared responsibility and car sharing for school runs may no longer be an option 

• Grandparents or family members who previously supported with childcare may be unable to due to shielding or health risks

• Childminders may not be operating or offering at a reduced capacity

There has been wide recognition during the pandemic that the substantive shift from traditional office-based to more flexible remote working is a positive for the majority of people. It is expected in September that many offices will still remain closed or operate at a reduced capacity. In an AlphaWise poll, last month for Morgan Stanley only 34 per cent of UK office workers said they had not yet gone back to their usual workplace.

If you have employees who will remain remote workers for the time being it is important that as employers you continue to provide support. For working parents one way this can be achieved is through offering flexible working. This can be utilised different ways such as:

• Altered start or finish times to accommodate school runs 

• Flexibility around break or lunchtimes 

• Temporary reduction in hours 

• Flexi-time 

• Compressed working weeks 

COVID-19 has forced change for almost all businesses, but now would be the time to create a hybrid flexible working policy which incorporates news ways of working not just for parents but all employees.

About Us – We enrich businesses by instilling our passion for developing people and organisations. Using our diverse experience and extensive knowledge, we flexibly support businesses with a pragmatic but personable approach to people management.

Disclaimer – The contents of this information sheet do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only. We can only advise on the basis of specific client instructions and are unable to offer legal advice by email to anyone who are not our clients. To find out more about becoming a client of Lodge Court please talk to us.