Mums and Dads Work, So How Can Your Small Business Support Them?

Although raising a child is a big job in itself, lots of parents don’t want to put their other job, their careers, on pause. 

In fact, research from That Works For Me shows that 98% of mothers want to keep working, while over 50% want to work four days a week or more. And since 86% of women will become mothers by the age of 40, it's important to pay special attention to parental leave and how you support employees who are parents. If you don't, your small business could lose reliable talent to other companies that offer more flexibility and understanding. 

How can you support parental leave?

Have clear parental leave policies

When an employee shares their good news with you, you can feel confident in terms of what this means for your small business by knowing about your legal obligations as an employer and having parental leave policies clearly outlined in your employee handbook. Some of the policies that you should include are maternity leave, paternity leaves adoption, and shared parental leave. 

If you are drafting a maternity leave policy you should bear the following in mind:

• A notifying due date for requesting maternity leave

• The length of maternity leave (in the UK, employees are entitled to up to 52 weeks of maternity leave)

• The salary for their maternity leave 

If this seems a bit overwhelming then don’t worry, People Management Partners can help. With our DIY HR Toolkit, you will receive an employee handbook with all the details needed to meet your minimum statutory obligations as an employer so you can be assured you are meeting your statutory obligations.

If you would like something more bespoke for your organisation, you can use our HR Advisor service and we can create something for your business. 

Workplace Nurseries

With your parental leave policies you can ensure that your employees are supported as they become parents but what can you do once they have their children?

A workplace nursery is a great way to retain the top talent once they’ve had children. Not only does it help with the cost of childcare and saving taxes, but it can also drastically help them to combine their work and parental duties.

Before you worry that you need to build an onsite nursery, a workplace nursery does not mean that you need to convert half your office into a daycare. 

According to the UK Government website a workplace nursery “does not have to be at your workplace - it can be in other premises that you manage and finance, as long as they’re not a private residence.” This means that you can establish a link between your business and a local nursery for your employees to take advantage of all the benefits of a workplace nursery. It is a great option for small businesses that would like to give their staff the option of a workplace nursery. 

Introduce flexible working options

Flexible working is undoubtedly a common way of working now that can benefit a company. 

According to a survey done by FlexJobs, a massive 80% of workers claim that they would be more loyal to their employer if they had flexible work options. That stat confirms that workers generally appreciate remote or hybrid work, flexible hours, compressed workweek, and other perks of having a flexible working policy.

For parents, flexible working can allow them to do pick-ups and drop-offs, work when their children are at school or asleep and reduce the cost of childcare. They can be present in their children’s lives whilst developing their careers. 

To wrap things up

It is a fact that a lot of mums and dads work, and as a small business, you need to make sure you can support them so that you don’t miss out on great talent. This begins by making sure you meet all your statutory requirements as an employer. You should also consider how you can use things like workplace nurseries and flexible working to help your staff do their best in their career and their roles as parents.

To do this effectively, we would recommend using our HR Advisor service for strategic guidance on how to successfully manage supporting parents in the workplace.