Top tips for retaining your talented parents and carers
Working parents need special attention and support from their employers especially when it comes to retaining talent.
In its eBook, Families that Thrive: A Guide to Supporting Working Parents, Pluxee UK says it shouldn’t be a struggle.”
It should also be noted that there’s still a disparity between working mothers and fathers in two-parent families.
More than eight out of ten (85%) of employees calling the Working Families’ Legal Advice Service in 2024 were women, and Pluxee UK share similar, unbalanced statistics in its blog Work-Life Balance: Supporting Working Parents.
That’s not to say men aren’t also impacted.
Four out of ten (42%) of men are registered carers, and many will also be working, as well as fathers who are lone and primary parents.
So why is retaining parents and carers potentially problematic, and what can employers do to help support them?
Burnout
The risk of burnout is significantly higher in working parents and carers because there are more demands on their time.
When you're responsible for another’s wellbeing, be it your children’s or someone else dependent on your care, you’re never just thinking about your own needs.
Their time is never truly their own, and that’s tiring.
With less time for self-care and the opportunity to rest and recharge, working parents and carers often burn the candle at both ends.
Employers can help keep their wellbeing pot full and alleviate the burden of the juggle.
Here’s how:
- Flexible working: 19% of working mothers have considered leaving their jobs due to difficulty managing childcare. It’s vital that working parents and carers have the option to work flexibly. Beyond starting a little later and working from home, true flexibility means allowing employees to work within the windows where they can give their best and be free from potential distractions.
- Emotional wellbeing: As well as ensuring managers are understanding and empathetic, consider creating networks or communities within your workplace where working parents and carers can come together and offer support. Delve into Pluxee UK’s blog Workplace Mental Health: Employee Communities for more.
- Mental wellbeing: Creating employee communities will also enhance employees’ mental health. You can do more. An employee assistance programme (EAP) gives working parents and carers access to Information Specialists and Counselling support.
- Physical wellbeing: Physical activity can reduce excess stress, as Pluxee UK discusses in the Acorns Children’s Hospice case study. Creating opportunities for employees to get out and about – especially in nature – and making exercise more affordable will boost physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
When you consider that many working parents also use their annual leave entitlement to reduce the cost of childcare, giving them less time to rest, burnout is a significant reason you may lose talented working parents and carers.
Financial wellbeing
Some working families have calculated that it’s cheaper not to work than to earn a wage, especially for lower-income families.
Are childcare costs to blame?
In Families that Thrive, Pluxee UK shares that four in ten families with a low income go into debt to cover childcare costs.
Half (49%) of lone parent families are in full-time work while four out of ten (41%) of single parents say better financial security would reduce their anxiety.
We have a situation where parents are leaving the workplace to make life more affordable, and others are working and struggling to make ends meet.
Financial wellbeing benefits, such as childcare vouchers, employee discounts and salary deduction schemes, help make life more affordable for working parents and carers.
Reduce the burden
Ensure that being at work pays off by reducing the expense of unavoidable outgoings and the cost of day-to-day living.
This article focuses on burnout and financial wellbeing as two significant people risks – the reasons working parents and carers may leave their roles.
When you unpack what we’ve included within those two sections, you can see the bigger picture and the contributing factors at play.
More importantly, you can see how you can make an impact, retaining top talent and enhancing employee wellbeing.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Pluxee UK
Pluxee UK, is a leading employee benefits and engagement partner that opens up a world of opportunities to help people enjoy more of what really matters in their lives.
