Navigating Holiday & School Breaks for Employees

Thirty-three percent of American families spend one out of five of their annual income dollars on child care, according to a Care.com survey.

No wonder, then, that every time school's out for the summer winter break or those well-deserved but pesky teacher in-service days, there's a collective groan from parents who need to find child care or put work on hold. And that doesn't account for the growing number of American workers who provide care for aging parents, either.

So, what can you do as an employer to help caretakers get through the holiday season? Read on.

"We all have needs at home, whether you have children, pets, parents or aging grandparents...We are all more than who we are at work." - Starbucks Director of Benefits, Alyssa Brock

Emerging Trend: Backup Care Benefits

In October, Starbucks announced its newest benefit: backup child and adult care support. The famously benefit-progressive java joint partnered with the online retailer Care.com to subsidize backup care for just $1 per hour for home care or $5 a day for center care.

Starbucks is just one of many companies blazing this trail. As the job market continues to tighten and the fight for fantastic employees drums on, next-level benefits like this will set apart employers of choice. In job roles similar to Starbucks positions, an employee may have to choose between keeping their job or scrambling for childcare. Who would you rather work for?

Give Your Flextime or Remote Policies a "Surge"

If your organization is part of the 44 percent that offer flextime or 12 percent with remote work options, consider putting those programs on a more robust schedule around tricky school’s-out times. That could look like:

• Adding a couple of days of remote working to the week
• Allowing for more creative flex schedules
• Increasing transparency and lead time on shift planning and switching

You’re showing your employees you have their backs, and that you’re willing to make their lives easier to accommodate their family lives.

Don’t offer these benefits? Beware. According to Gallup, 63 percent of Millennials would leave their job for one that offered flextime, and 30 percent would leave for a job with child care reimbursement.

Throw in a Strategically Placed 'Bring Your Kid to Work' Day

There are designated days for this type of company effort - like Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day - but if your company has a rogue streak, consider planning this educational day after looking at local school schedules. Recommended for kids aged 8-18, TODASTW has a long list of sample days for lots of businesses, from construction sites and restaurants to accounting and HR (hint, hint). It doesn’t have to be just for employees’ kids either; pairing this type of community event with an organization like Big Brothers Big Sisters can be a great way to bolster your employer brand and drive engagement.

So, if you can’t beat the kids-on-break conundrum, ask them to join you.

Just Be Understanding, Flexible & Compassionate

Hey, people have kids. Society depends on it. Humanity demands it. We can’t live in a child-free world (honestly, no one’s aiming for a Handmaid’s Tale scenario), so sometimes the workday needs to adjust. That said, every workplace is different. If some employees are too important, too specialized and too hard to replace, it might be time to invest in the type of backup care benefits that keep employees around.

In today’s HR reality, finding new ways to attract and keep your employees can make a huge difference to your organization’s bottom line. Studies show workers - especially the Millennials and Gen Zers - want more than work-life balance, they want work-life integration. Businesses that can create a solution to one of the modern workforce’s most stressful dilemmas will boost their employer brand and create a more supportive company culture.