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The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused so much chaos to millions of parents on how to cope with the challenges of childcare and the new setup in their children’s schooling. This crisis is starting to keep parents especially mothers out of the workforce, that is why companies are coming up with solutions to help working parents to stay on their job. With this, parents depend on childcare systems while they are at work.
One of these companies is Cleo, a family benefits platform. According to its CEO, Sarahjane Sacchetti, COVID-19 has hastened the call for programs that help parents go to work without them worrying about their children. More companies are recognizing the work conflicts of their employees, so much attention is given to family benefits. Companies want their employees to be engaged and productive in the workplace, as well as to have peace of mind knowing that everything is alright at home.
The problem with these programs is that there is no all-in-one solution for this issue. Demands of a toddler on a working parent are so different from grade school children or adolescents. Despite these, companies still developed programs that could be extremely beneficial to working parents.
Financial help
Caring for children is one of the biggest expenses each family must face. Most schools are also shifting to distance learning which will add to the family’s expense. Children must have additional gadgets and someone to look after when their parents are at work.
Because of this problem, there are companies that are interested in helping parents with these costs. For instance, Bank of America is decompensating qualified employees with 75 dollars or 100 dollars for child care depending on their payment at the end of the year. Workers are also given the option to choose the type of childcare they prefer. These benefits are given to parents with children less than 12 years old.
Additional paid leave
Other companies give working parents additional time off that can help in lightening the load of parents. One example is Microsoft. Working parents receive an additional 12 weeks of paid parental leave early this year. Google also prolonged its family leaves to 14 weeks in April for workers to take care of their families during the pandemic.
Keeping kids occupied
Toddlers are very energetic, and it is very difficult to keep up with them while trying to work. Because of that, Globant, a software developer, is helping working parents in this company by giving virtual activities for children that are run by outside professionals through their Future of Organizations department. Just a few of these activities are art classes, movement breaks, and magic shows. Parents could also plan the schedule of activities for their children. The company would go on with the virtual activities until children will return to school.
Flexible schedules
Working parents have very busy schedules because aside from accomplishing work responsibilities, they also have to do household chores and guide their kids in their schooling. In the company Paylocity, managers work with employees to create a schedule that suits their work-life demands but remains to be compliant with company regulations and still gets work done.
This is the reason why there are working parents who opt for split schedules. This could mean that they would take long breaks in the middle of the day but would come back to work online in the evenings, work 10 hours every day for four days a week, or lessen their work hours in the meantime which will result in lower pay. Moreover, Paylocity added more Paid Time Off Leaves (PTO) and sick leaves to provide more of its employees flexibility.
Expanding childcare
Another company that has been helping its working parents is Toyota. The company started to address issues of their working parents by having employee surveys to determine what they are struggling with and the best method to help them. For its workers in the manufacturing facility in Georgetown, Kentucky, they conveyed concerns regarding their children’s virtual learning and how they are going to help their children if they were at work. To respond to their problem, Toyota created an on-site program for children in kindergarten to fifth grade to help with their virtual classes. The center has supervisors to help children with remote learning as well as homework and after-school activities. However, the parents would have to pay 150 to 170 dollars per week for the program.
Talking about it
Talking about childcare in the workplace has not always been a good idea. However, things have changed today because every working parent is suffering from the consequences of online learning. At Cleo’s online meetings, there is an average of at least five babies appearing on their screens.
To help working parents in the company, they made additional efforts by encouraging their employees to talk about their working parent problems. They created a Slack channel for parents where they can acquire or share tips, funny stories, or even voice their frustrations.
No matter how important it is for parents to help their kids with school, they also need to maintain their jobs because it is their only source of income. They have to secure their positions, especially that the situation with the pandemic has left many people without jobs and permanent incomes. Same is true in the Philippines. Many people also lost their jobs and businesses were closed especially those in the tourism sector because foreigners could no longer travel to the Philippines for recreation. Though many of these people have been helped by the grants and special programs of their employers and the government, they cannot rely on their assistance all the time. Sometimes, money is needed urgently especially that online schooling of children requires expensive gadgets. With that, an emergency cash loan philippines would help.
If you need a quick loan for your children’s online schooling, childcare, or any other purposes, visit robocash.ph where there are good conditions for residents of the Philippines. You could receive a loan anywhere, anytime because it is automated as long as you are a Filipino citizen who is 21 years old and above, have a valid ID and a phone number, and was able to fill out all necessary information on the online application. Despite how easy it is to acquire a loan at Robocash, never forget to borrow only an amount that you can pay.
