Parenting while holding a job can be a tricky balancing act for many, which is why it’s imperative for employers to think critically about the types of benefits they offer to support working parents.
Below, we outline five ways you can attract working parents to hourly jobs and help them feel taken care of and empowered as they raise the next generation.
Childcare stipends
One of the most stressful aspects of parenting can be finding affordable and reliable childcare. This anxiety-producing task can be mitigated with employer-sponsored childcare benefits. In fact, 67% of parents believe that employers should offset the cost of childcare!
Consider offering your workers daycare vouchers to help subsidize the cost of childcare. These vouchers should be provided in addition to employees’ regular compensation, rather than taking it out of their paychecks, which can be seen as a penalty for being a parent. You also should consider offering hourly workers emergency childcare for days when their normal child supervision plan has fallen through.
Flexible schedules
Flexible schedules are imperative to supporting and retaining working parents.
Some parents may need to come in late one day because of a child’s doctor’s appointment, and another may need to leave early to go to their child’s piano recital. Some employees may need to switch shifts with one another to tend to their parental duties.
Whatever the case may be, try to accommodate the busy and unpredictable schedules of working parents to create a positive company culture where being a parent is celebrated!
Great healthcare plans
When it comes to attracting working parents, hourly employers need to prioritize offering great healthcare plans. Companies need to make sure that healthcare costs for plan dependents are not astronomical as working parents need a sustainable way to pay for their child’s care. Moreover, hourly employers should also consider offering health care to part-time employees, something Starbucks has become quite renowned for. Making healthcare more affordable and accessible at your organization will not only benefit working parents but also positively impact all of your employees!
Generous paid secondary parental leave
Did you know? Only 40% of companies offer paid secondary parental leave. This means including it in your benefits package can be a huge competitive advantage when attracting working parents.
What’s more, only 8% of workers in the lowest wage quartile have access to this type of benefit. This means that those who would be most significantly impacted by missing a few paychecks are the ones least likely to receive the benefit. You can help even the playing field and assuage the fear of missing paychecks by offering this benefit to your hourly employees.
Return-to-work programs
Getting back to work after having a child is no easy feat! Employers of hourly workers should consider offering return-to-work programs, like Amazon’s Ramp Back program, to help new parents comfortably re-enter the workforce.
Return-to-work programs typically give new parents flexible and reduced schedules to allow them to slowly ease back into the pace of full-time employment.
Attracting parents to hourly roles requires an empathetic audit of your existing benefits packages. If you haven’t already done so, we hope you implement some of the above parent-friendly work benefits to empower your teams’ life directions and support future generations.
