Back-to-School Brings Unnecessary Stress for Working Parents

Summary: The way a company handles the school requirements of their employees with children will be better able to keep their best talent and keep relations smooth.

By now, most schools are back in schedule. With that comes a load of stress as parents figure out new schedules and how to balance them with work demands. While some parents can’t wait until it is time for back-to-school, many working parents find the stress of balancing sick kids, school supply costs, and volunteer requirements too much to handle.

Care.com conducted a survey that found that over half of working parents find the start of school interferes with their work schedule. Along with that, 25 percent find that their supervisors do not empathize with the conflict of school obligations and work. Forty-four percent also worry that their boss and colleagues will question their dedication to the job if school responsibilities take priority.

This fear may be true but it should not be acknowledged. Often, the parents that miss time at work for parent-teacher conferences or a sick child make up their hours in the evenings or weekends. Managers should only be worried when the work is not getting done instead of being focused on whether or not an employee misses a few days.

Managers can help combat the resentment between working parents and childless workers by making sure the parents are giving notice for things that are planned ahead like parent-teacher conferences. A company that can be understanding of an employee’s outside life will be better able to hang out to the best talent.

Source: http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/employeerelations/articles/pages/back-to-school-stress-.aspx

Photo: cnn.com