Tackling working parents’ guilt while they seek work-life balance
Hanan Ezzeldin, founder of The Family Hub, argues that for a business to truly succeed, they need their working parents to stay motivated, happy, energetic and passionate
If you’re not a working parent, let me take you on a tour in the daily life of a working parent with all of its ups, downs and everything in between. And, well, if you are, then please join us to further make my point.
The alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m. Seems early? Not really. Why? Because by 6.45 a.m. mum or dad needs to have gotten ready in their finest suit, woken up the kids, made their school lunches, fed the baby, prepared dinner in advance, made sure the kids got to school on time, and ensured they made it to their first meeting.
It’s now 8 a.m. There are meetings, schedules, deadlines and plans to get through all day. At 4 p.m., they have to rush off to pick up their children from school, drop them off to football practice, gymnastics and a “toddler and me” class. Pile everyone back in the car, go home, finish dinner, start homework, laundry, washing the dishes and kick off those work shoes.
It’s now 7.30 p.m. Bedtime routines, finish off emails, cool down in front of the TV with their favourite chocolate bar and collapse in front of the couch by 9 p.m. is the name of the game now, only to wake up disturbed by 10.30 p.m. They set the alarm and get ready to do it all again in the morning. Sounds familiar? Well, it really is.
But perhaps the biggest issue here is that exhausted parents in the workplace are seen as underachievers because they are always scrambling away from work at 4 p.m. Parents who are trying so hard to manage that balance see themselves as not prioritising their families because they’re exhausted all the time. Mothers, more than anyone, experience mum guilt as they strive for perfection, but ultimately feel like they can’t have it all. Involved fathers have recently begun showing some of those similar symptoms. These patterns lead to high calibre parents eventually becoming overwhelmed, and find themselves either taking a step back from work or leave the workplace entirely.
So, how can we, at the workplace, make sure that we are supporting our top talent and making sure that their mental health is kept in check? There are a few strategies that can be put into place to support mothers and fathers in the workplace and help them continue shining, growing and being an essential part of the organisation.
The first one – which has been proven by the global pandemic – is to allow flexibility in the location of the workplace. For example, working from home, if it won’t interrupt the quality of work, can be an amazing option for working parents. This is especially true if babies or toddlers are without childcare and if children are learning from home.
This flexibility is guaranteed to provide more loyalty, more appreciation from parents and will definitely allow them to accomplish their targets without feeling the stress of leaving home in the midst of all the current disturbances.
Another way to support parents is to provide support during transition points for the entire family. For example, when a family welcomes a new child, flexible working hours for the mothers, temporary reduced hours for breastfeeding schedules and offering parental leave to support the working parent can seem simple but are often highly valued to the new parents. A third way which really helps is offering support systems for the parents’ mental health. These can include digital platforms for parents at the company to connect and offer parenting workshops and retreats for them. There could be stipends for childcare expenses, potential loans to pay for education and paid sick leave to support the family.
Simple things added to this can also help such as handbooks for parents with helpful information, sessions with family nutritionists, paediatricians, positive discipline educators and psychologists can really help as well. Corporates can find that by just showing some empathy, kindness and some understanding into the working parents’ daily ordeal, they can make a big difference. At the end of the day, working parents are an important part of the workforce. For a business to truly succeed, they need their workforce to stay motivated, happy, energetic and passionate about what they do. By taking a sample of those ideas, working parents can destress, feel like the business supports them and continue to show up every day for work and for their families.
Hanan Ezzeldin, founder of The Family Hub
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by Staff Writer
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Tackling working parents’ guilt while they seek work-life balance
Hanan Ezzeldin, founder of The Family Hub, argues that for a business to truly succeed, they need their working parents to stay motivated, happy, energetic and passionate
Hanan Ezzeldin, founder of The Family Hub.
If you’re not a working parent, let me take you on a tour in the daily life of a working parent with all of its ups, downs and everything in between. And, well, if you are, then please join us to further make my point.
The alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m. Seems early? Not really. Why? Because by 6.45 a.m. mum or dad needs to have gotten ready in their finest suit, woken up the kids, made their school lunches, fed the baby, prepared dinner in advance, made sure the kids got to school on time, and ensured they made it to their first meeting.
It’s now 8 a.m. There are meetings, schedules, deadlines and plans to get through all day. At 4 p.m., they have to rush off to pick up their children from school, drop them off to football practice, gymnastics and a “toddler and me” class. Pile everyone back in the car, go home, finish dinner, start homework, laundry, washing the dishes and kick off those work shoes.
It’s now 7.30 p.m. Bedtime routines, finish off emails, cool down in front of the TV with their favourite chocolate bar and collapse in front of the couch by 9 p.m. is the name of the game now, only to wake up disturbed by 10.30 p.m. They set the alarm and get ready to do it all again in the morning. Sounds familiar? Well, it really is.
But perhaps the biggest issue here is that exhausted parents in the workplace are seen as underachievers because they are always scrambling away from work at 4 p.m. Parents who are trying so hard to manage that balance see themselves as not prioritising their families because they’re exhausted all the time. Mothers, more than anyone, experience mum guilt as they strive for perfection, but ultimately feel like they can’t have it all. Involved fathers have recently begun showing some of those similar symptoms. These patterns lead to high calibre parents eventually becoming overwhelmed, and find themselves either taking a step back from work or leave the workplace entirely.
So, how can we, at the workplace, make sure that we are supporting our top talent and making sure that their mental health is kept in check? There are a few strategies that can be put into place to support mothers and fathers in the workplace and help them continue shining, growing and being an essential part of the organisation.
The first one – which has been proven by the global pandemic – is to allow flexibility in the location of the workplace. For example, working from home, if it won’t interrupt the quality of work, can be an amazing option for working parents. This is especially true if babies or toddlers are without childcare and if children are learning from home.
This flexibility is guaranteed to provide more loyalty, more appreciation from parents and will definitely allow them to accomplish their targets without feeling the stress of leaving home in the midst of all the current disturbances.
Another way to support parents is to provide support during transition points for the entire family. For example, when a family welcomes a new child, flexible working hours for the mothers, temporary reduced hours for breastfeeding schedules and offering parental leave to support the working parent can seem simple but are often highly valued to the new parents. A third way which really helps is offering support systems for the parents’ mental health. These can include digital platforms for parents at the company to connect and offer parenting workshops and retreats for them. There could be stipends for childcare expenses, potential loans to pay for education and paid sick leave to support the family.
Simple things added to this can also help such as handbooks for parents with helpful information, sessions with family nutritionists, paediatricians, positive discipline educators and psychologists can really help as well. Corporates can find that by just showing some empathy, kindness and some understanding into the working parents’ daily ordeal, they can make a big difference. At the end of the day, working parents are an important part of the workforce. For a business to truly succeed, they need their workforce to stay motivated, happy, energetic and passionate about what they do. By taking a sample of those ideas, working parents can destress, feel like the business supports them and continue to show up every day for work and for their families.
Hanan Ezzeldin, founder of The Family Hub
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