Are “Work From Home” policies biased towards parents?

Summary

• Work from home amid COVID-19 is proving to be a nightmare for parents who are continuously juggling between professional and personal responsibilities.
• Many companies, especially technology firms, have been supporting parents by providing extra time off to them as schools, and care centres remain shut.
• However, such companies are facing criticisms from non-parent employees, asserting that work from home policies seemed to be more biased towards employees who are parents.
• Employers must frame “Work from Home” policies that are neutral and offer equal perks to all employees.

The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined the workspace with their humble abode becoming the work zone for the majority of people, post COVID-19 infection infiltrated the society.

The concept of “Work from Home” (WFH), which was limited to the likes of entrepreneurs, novelists, or freelancers, has now been extended to employees from across industries who can get the ball rolling without stepping out of the home.

However, employers and employees are still adapting to the policy of WFH to create an optimal working environment. The WFH option, which is the new normal in the corporate world, requires no need of commuting and allows people to work within their comfort zone.

Nonetheless, WFH has its pros and cons.

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Managing children with work, an unavoidable challenge

WFH is a major plus for parents who get to spend more time with their kids, eliminate childcare costs and adopt more healthy living with home-cooked food amid other positive lifestyle changes. However, juggling work, along with managing kids, may result in burnout, affecting their productivity at work.

As per a survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group, about 60% of the parents in the US have no outside childcare during the pandemic, as schools and childcare centres remain shut across the country.

As per the Bureau of Labour Statistics data, 70% of 25 million mothers in the US workforce are working with children under the age of 18. About 75% of these women are employed full time, and nearly 40% of these mothers are the primary breadwinners for their family. It is a tightrope walk for especially women with children who juggle with both household and work-related responsibilities.

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Companies are biased towards parents in giving extra benefits

As coronavirus has resulted in the closure of schools and childcare centres, forcing several parents to manage personal and professional responsibilities simultaneously, many tech companies have offered a helping hand to their employees. The companies are using their profit margins to help such employees by providing new benefits and additional time off from work to care for their children.

The divide has been more prominent in technology companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft where employees have had problems with the work policies created due to COVID-19 that have been mainly benefitting parents. While a few employees with no children to look after have been feeling that they are burdened with the heavier workload.

But the problem on whether non-parents be expected to do extra work needs to be addressed with effective non-biased WFH policies that will provide enough flexibility to all employees to be most productive along with managing their personal work.

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Few steps that may bridge the gap on biasness towards parents and non-parents

More flexible work schedules

Flexible work schedules must be maintained for employees who are parents as well as single or without a child. For parents with young children, the work schedule may be designed as per their baby’s sleeping time while for parents with older children, flexibility in work schedule may be framed around rigid school or activity schedules. Non-parent employees may opt for flexible working hours according to their needs which will make them most productive.

Set clear work time boundaries

Clear boundaries must be developed around work schedules so that employees make themselves available when it is required the most. Clear boundaries on timings will allow both parents and non-parents to manage personal work without worrying on work deadlines.

Compensation as per effort

More reward for non-parents should be provided depending upon the extra effort they put in. If a non-parent is working long hours or delivering extra work compensating the work to be done by an employee who is a parent, they should be duly rewarded for that extra effort.

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