Juggling childcare with work demands can be very challenging and complex for employees, particularly if they have to juggle care provided by different settings on different days. It is important for employers to recognise and acknowledge these challenges and do what they can to support their staff. Although the government recently enhanced its childcare support (see Get childcare: step by step – GOV.UK), childcare costs in the UK are still among the highest in Europe.
Most SMEs do not have the resources to provide formal childcare support, but support can be provided in other ways – such as Flexible Working or by providing more informal childcare support.
“I think that, as a small organisation, then that [childcare support] would probably be beyond our scope, realistically. But what I hope is that the flexibility and the ability to work remotely, hopefully does help people out on that front.” (Alice, Small business employer)
It is important to note that business and staff needs (e.g., when the child starts school) keep changing and support arrangements thus need to be revisited as required.
Supportive employer practices
- Open conversation with staff – what would help employees to balance their work and care responsibilities more effectively?
- Time off/opportunity to work from home when child is sick
- Only hold meetings during core hours (e.g., 10am-4pm)
- Flexitime -e.g., finishing early to do the school run and catching up in the evening
- Allowing staff to bring a child to work or work from home in emergencies or regularly
- Remote/hybrid work (accepting that children may sometimes be around if meetings are online and outside of core hours)
“If my child is sick and I need to take some time off, that will be paid… it will be treated exactly the same as personal sick leave.” (Linda, Medium business employee)
“When my eldest started pre-school, you get all the germs and she had to keep being off, and I had to keep ringing and saying, ‘I’m really sorry, I’ll do a bit when she’s having a nap but, I can’t really work today’, and it was fine. I didn’t have to take annual leave, I didn’t have to take sick days… I still just got paid for the day, and there was no negativity towards me needing to do that.” (Anna, Small business employee)
What can employees do to help? Employees should keep their employer informed of any changes in their support needs and be proactive in providing practical suggestions on how their childcare issues could be addressed (see e.g., Flexible Working).
