Creating the right environment for your working parents

Working parents want to spend more time with their children, and many are considering a change in career to make that happen.

A poll of 2,000 parents conducted by software engineering training platform TripleTen and the team at Talker Research found a whopping 96% felt guilt over putting work before their kids. 

Forty-three percent said they felt pressure to regularly prioritize work over their children, and 74% would switch careers if it provided for a better family life. 

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To retain and recruit staff members who are also parents, employers in every industry should strive to create an environment where parents are set up to feel good about fulfilling their family responsibilities, not pressured to overlook them, says Daniel Odegaard, head of talent acquisition at TripleTen. 

"Have a default level of trust with your employees and be mindful of the regular life needs of parents," he says. "Sick days for kids rarely happen when it's convenient, so be thoughtful and plan ahead for these things to happen. [And] don't guilt parents [out of] making it to their kids' activities or other things, so long as they're keeping up with their work."

Odegaard adds that new parents should be encouraged to use their full parental leave time, especially new dads, and that managers can set a good example of this by using PTO time themselves. Citing benefits they wish their company offered, 44% of survey respondents said four-day work weeks, 30% said unlimited PTO and the ability to work full-time or part-time from home, and 25% said on-site child care. 

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But building the kind of workplace that makes employees want to stay is about more than benefits. Managers who work to understand and then support what matters to their employees — their goals and motivations — are going to see less turnover. Establishing relationships with team members takes effort, but it gives leaders insight that things like anonymous surveys cannot, Odegaard says.

"Bad turnover — surprise resignations or unwelcome attrition — is generally the result of poor relationships [between] management and the individuals on their teams," he says. "If managers invest in having good relationships with their employees and doing what they can to reasonably help each person maximize what's most important to them, they will have a much happier and engaged workforce."

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Organizations that commit to caring about their employees, including their family life, stand to become an employer of choice. Being in touch with their needs, giving them autonomy to manage responsibilities and helping them grow are good places to start — and companies benefit from these practices as well.

"People stay where they are trusted, empowered, and compensated well, [and this does] not have to come at the expense of the company making money," Odegaard says. "Companies with high trust cultures, employees who are empowered to use their expertise to make decisions and are well rewarded generally have the best performance over time."