Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
Curriculum Associates benefit package includes both unlimited sick leave and flexible paid time off, both of which are beneficial to working parents to ensure they can take the time they need for their family. Starting in 2022 CA also included a company-wide week off at the end of December, which typically coincides with holiday school closures. CA also partners with Bright Horizons to provide subsidized childcare benefits, including summer and emergency care.
Additionally, CA offers 100% paid medical leave for recovery from birth for a minimum of eight weeks or more if medically necessary. Parental bonding leave is offered fully paid for 10 weeks, for birthing and non-birthing parents and can be taken all at once or intermittently up to one year after the birth of the child. For employees beginning or growing their families, CA also offers adoption assistance and medical benefit coverage of infertility services.
While these are some of the more tangible ways CA has centered families in the standard benefits package, the day-to-day lives of parents often require a more fluid approach to finding balance. Here are a few ways working parents have made the company’s family-first ethos work for them:
“I block out time on my calendar each afternoon to go pick my kids up from school. It’s not a ton of time away from work but having even a few minutes to walk them home and debrief about their day keeps me much more closely connected to them throughout the week.” — Remote employee in Marketing, mother of two
“My team is very flexible. They celebrate when my daughter (16 months) shows up at a meeting and don’t make me feel at all bad about it. I’m also able to sign off and come back on around her nap/sleep/dinner schedule when necessary. I treasure flexibility, and to be treated like an adult who can do what is needed, when it’s needed, if I meet my deadlines is helpful.” —Senior Editor, mother of one
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
Children need things when they need them, which often doesn’t coincide with when it’s convenient to take a break or end a Zoom meeting. Opening a snack, responding to a question, or even holding a sleeping infant during a work meeting is a pretty common occurrence.
“I did not realize before I had a child just how often they are home sick. Since my husband goes into an office and I stay home, I generally work while watching her on those days. I’ll work while she naps. It seems to be working out and my team is supportive.” —Senior Editor, mother of one
“It can be challenging to draw clear lines between work and family when your physical space is home base for everything. Without the separation of a commute or a closed office (that isn’t covered in toys!) parents need to find creative ways to designate focused workspaces, both physically and mentally.” —VP in marketing, mother of two
Check out the Curriculum Associates careers page here!
Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
At Elsevier, we understand that working parents face numerous challenges in balancing their professional and personal lives. So, we help alleviate some of this burden by implementing policies and programs that support our working parents. Providing flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options and flexible schedules, enable parents to better manage their responsibilities. Elsevier’s flexible work option and remote work option provide working parents the convenience of making space to balance their family’s needs alongside their day-to-day work expectations.
People managers are trained on managing their team’s work/life challenges and how best to support direct reports. Also, we cultivate a culture of support for working parents through our benefit programs including Bright Horizons Family Assistance and our Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Employees can enroll in a dependent Daycare Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA). The DCFSA allows pre-tax money to be set aside to use for qualified daycare expenses for dependent children and adults who are incapable of caring for themselves.
We also offer paid parental leave to provide parents with the time and financial support they need to bond with their newborns and adjust to the demands of parenting. Bonding leave can be taken continuously or intermittently and allows new parents to bond with their new addition and arrange for childcare to allow for a smooth transition back to work. The Modern Family Leave program offers employees who are fostering a child(ren) up to one week of paid time off to bond with a new foster child. New parents are offered Modern Family Leave, which provides birth or adoptive mothers and fathers with weeks of bonding leave.
Modern Family Leave can be taken incrementally to allow parents to ease back into their normal work schedule. Through Employee Assistance and Bright Horizons Family Assistance, employees can seek help with any emotional aspects and daycare assistance.
Offering resources such as family-friendly events, and employee assistance programs show our commitment to supporting working parents and fostering a positive workplace culture. By prioritizing the needs of working parents, we don’t only make life and work easier for this important demographic but also reap the benefits of increased employee satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty.
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
Some of the most prominent challenges that remote parents face include stress management, self-care, and work-life balance. To manage this, Elsevier employees have access to a free license to download Headspace. Headspace is a personal guide to mindfulness offering guided exercises, videos, and more. Additionally, stress webinars and online Wellbeing Toolkits that provide tips and resources for stress management are offered.
An Employee Assistance Program is also offered for counseling for emotional and psychological support as well as an online health and well-being resources for any challenges related to work and life, on topics such as childcare, special needs childcare, anxiety or depression, legal and financial stress, and many more. 988 Lifeline is offered which is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States.
Employees have access to Globalfit which offers a variety of fitness discounts. They can choose from 10,000 gyms and get discounts on weight-loss programs and home equipment, including Nutrisystem, Total Gym, and Zumba DVDs. Virtual fit classes are also offered to all employees. Employees and their spouses/domestic partners also receive a 50% subsidy for Weight Watchers USA.
Elsevier employees have access to Sharecare, our Wellness Connection program which supports all physical, mental, community, and financial health. Eligible employees can complete wellness activities throughout the year and earn wellness incentives.
Hear from our employees regarding their experience as working parents and caretakers.
Check out the Elsevier careers page here!
Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
At SmileDirectClub we offer a flexible and remote work from home policy for a majority of our Team Members. Team Members are able to live and work anywhere, as long as they are working during our set corporate hours. This is a huge benefit for parents and those who might have young children at home while working from home. We also block off the lunch hour from 12 – 1 for no meetings and from 2 – 5 on Fridays to allow Team Members to catch up on work. This allows flexibility for parents who need to attend events for their children, doctor appointments, and allows balance of work and family life. We also recently increased our parental leave policy and family planning benefits for Team Members so we can support everyone throughout their parenthood journey.
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
Sometimes working remotely allows you to answer emails, or get some work done even after office hours. This might be a challenge when important emails or meeting invites come through that conflict with family responsibilities. However, our workforce lives out our truth, “Best Through Balance” and we try to maintain work-life balance for all of our Team Members.
Check out the SmileDirectClub careers page here!
Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
As a people-focused company, UKG not only provides an array of benefits to support working parents, but also an entire support community. Our newest employee resource group, NEST (Nurture, Empower, Support, and Thrive) has thousands of members — which includes parents, caregivers, and allies — and aims to harmonize and build our employees’ personal and professional relationships as well as expand their communities as working families. In addition to NEST, some of the many benefits we offer include: 100%-company-paid healthcare premiums (medical, dental, and vision) for employees AND their dependents, including coverage for IVF and surrogacy; paid maternity, paternity, and adoptive leave, as well as $10,000 in adoption support (per child); unlimited paid time off; a 45% dollar-for-dollar match on all employee 401(k) contributions; a quarterly stipend (called “U Choose”) that employees can use for a variety of benefits, such as childcare or extracurricular activities; tuition reimbursement; a global scholarship program; access to online tutoring resources; and much more!
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
The interconnection between work and home has become more apparent than ever before: employees’ home and family lives impact their work lives, and work lives impact home lives. This was completely clear during the pandemic, when millions of parents became full-time teachers and caregivers, in addition to remote workers, seemingly overnight and had to learn how to successfully balance both critical roles simultaneously. This has carried on post-pandemic to include hybrid work arrangements. To help their people thrive in this new world of work, organizations need to offer resources — from benefits that support their people at every stage of life to flexible schedules and time off — inherently designed to help employees balance their work and their lives outside of the workplace.
Check out the UKG careers page here!
Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
Besides health insurance for employees and their dependents, Squarespace also offers flexible time off and up to 20 weeks of paid family leave for working parents. The company’s Paid Family Care Leave policy offers eligible employees up to 20 weeks of paid leave in connection with the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. Squarespace also recently began offering subsidized backup childcare and eldercare, as well as supplemental life insurance benefits. Their global and inclusive Fertility & Adoption benefits that cover 100% of eligible medical and legal expenses up to $10,000 annually, with a lifetime maximum of $20,000.
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
While there is no single solution for the challenges that come with the balance working parents strive for daily, Squarespace believes in offering employees and their families support to help lighten the load such as offering pre-taxed dependent care to help with the cost of childcare. To encourage a healthy balance for employees, Squarespace offers flexible schedules with varying degrees of in-office attendance — depending on the needs of each role and department. Championing the needs of working parents allows them to contribute to their teams in a successful way, prevents burnout, and results in higher retention.
Check out the Squarespace careers page here!
Can you tell us about some of the ways your company makes life and work easier for working parents?
As a remote-first organization, symplr understands the demands of working parents and ensures that our work structure accounts for flexibility to accommodate their needs. We provide all our staff with permissive paid time off (PTO) and provide bonding leave for new parents, with fully paid maternity leave for birth mothers. We also allow flexible working hours based on manager discretion and provide support through employee resource groups, such as the symplr Parents and Caregivers (sPAC), to promote inclusivity and provide a space for working parents to connect.
What are the special challenges that face parents who are working remotely?
symplr understands that remote work holds certain advantages and challenges for working parents. It may be difficult for parents to explain to children that they are working, and the home environment may be distracting. For that reason, we’ve instated flexible working hours and an open-minded work environment where children and pets are welcome and not considered negative distractions. Working from home may also lead people to feel disconnected from their colleagues, which is why we emphasize employee resource groups to solidify culture and connectivity. Ultimately, we believe that providing our employees with a remote workplace allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance and therefore perform to the best of their ability.