COVID-19 childcare crisis impacts working parents with a deeper blow to working mothers

This pandemic has brought about increased challenges for parents. Parenting is hard work but when emotions run high and children get restless, parenting seems like a herculean task. Working parents don’t just have to manage their calendars but also keep track of their child’s schedule, keep the kids engaged and purposeful along with managing all household chores.

Parents struggle & working mothers hit the hardest

In a recent survey conducted by BCG, it was observed that parents in today’s scenario spend an additional 27 hours each week on household chores, childcare, and education and close to 50% of respondents feel that their performance at work has been impacted.

Top 5 stressors for parents in these times revolve around:

• Health and safety of family
• Child education/learning
• Mental well-being of self and family
• Lack of financial stability with pay cuts and job losses on the rise
• Inconsistency in work performance and productivity

Another survey by Northeastern University estimates that 13 percent of working parents had to resign or reduce their work hours because of a lack of child care during the covid crisis, with women impacted significantly more than men.  Across respondents, those who said they had lost a job due to child care problems, 60% were women, the survey found.

Indian parents also feeling the stress**

• 80% Parents don’t have childcare support at home
• 60% Parents don’t plan to use daycare before Oct/Dec
• 97% of the Primary caregivers (most Mothers) are stressed & overworked

Parents want support now & also when work resumes**

• 48% Parents currently want the following remote support to enable parenting. 
  • Kids Engagement: 35%
  • Coaching: 15%
  • Online resources: 20%
• 54% Parents want Daycare near home when work resumes 

Employers need to focus on parent-friendly policies  

Many employers have stepped up to help parents with innovative solutions to tackle challenges around childcare, some of these initiatives include:

• Flexible work arrangements
• Extension of paid leave – Microsoft, Google, and Facebook are some organizations that have amended their leave policy to help parents during these time
• Supporting parents by sponsoring online virtual care for kids
• Providing nanny support (physical and virtual)
• Advocating family-friendly work timings and policies
• Wellness counselling and support
• Advocating parent support groups within the organization
• Conducting regular programs on mindfulness & yoga

Emerging benefit trends: Virtual childcare

With most parents being unsure of using daycare facilities for the rest of the year, increasingly companies are partnering with Proeves to provide support for virtual child care while employees continue to work from home.  

• Joint campaigns: Employers are coming together to co-create childcare and parenting support options that multiple employees across companies can access. Interactive parenting panels, expert webinars, kid’s engagement sessions provided at a community level that multiple corporates can sign up for. 
• Plug & play model:  Companies are trending towards offering plug and play options to parents. Companies are providing parental support choices viz nanny support, virtual care/classes for kids, one to one coach sessions. Parents can choose any or a combination of these benefits, that is relevant to them.

Organizations see these initiatives as a tool to retain working parents (esp working mothers) and arrest a leaking pipeline. The focus for them continues to be keeping employees productive and differentiate themselves as a preeminent employer in such a scenario.   

**Survey Source : ProEves Caregiver Survey, June 2020