How can you help your employees?

Today marks the start of the long summer holidays for most schools across the UK, a time that many working parents approach with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. So how can you help your employees to balance their workload and childcare commitments?

School holidays are important for children, offering a break from the structured routines and demands they face at school and a chance to have some fun. They’re also a great opportunity for families to spend time together, enjoying new experiences and making memories that will last a lifetime. However, many working parents face a difficult conundrum as the amount of leave they are entitled to is often much less than school children enjoy. The summer break can often end up being stressful, expensive and a logistical nightmare to manage, with a jigsaw of formal and informal childcare arrangements being used to get through each week.

So how can employers help?

Encourage your employees to approach you with any concerns they have, listen to their suggestions and work together constructively to find a suitable compromise that will keep disruption to a minimum.

Think about offering flexibility around working hours during the school holiday weeks. Consider:

  • Varying start and finish times
  • Temporarily reducing working hours to part-time during holiday weeks
  • Possible shift swaps
  • Allowing staff to work remotely
  • Flexitime
  • Compressed working hours (e.g. full-time hours over 4 days rather than 5)
  • Using technology such as Skype or telephone conferencing to enable homeworking

If your company offers a range of flexible benefits why not consider providing holiday childcare or offering childcare subsidies as options.

It may not always be possible to accommodate a request for flexible working and as an employer it is important to balance the needs of your business with the needs of the employee. However, some reported benefits of flexible working reported by Xpert HR include:

  • Improved staff retention 66.8%
  • Increased employee engagement and loyalty 65.9%
  • Flexibility of cover 43.2%
  • Reduced absence 40.2%
  • Increased productivity 26.6%

Can you make flexible working a part of your company culture? Contact us today for more help and advice.