Flexible and remote working is undoubtedly important for supporting parents and carers in balancing their work and personal responsibilities. But employers wanting to be truly inclusive must think bigger, as panellists at the Inclusive Workplace Conference revealed on 20 November.
Recognise the burden
Employers need to be open to people approaching them with diverse parenting and care needs, panellists argued, highlighting the range of caring responsibilities that workers face.
The definition of a carer is broad, explained Jane Van Zyl, CEO of the charity Working Families. Carers can be people of any age, including children: many younger carers look after siblings or disabled parents, especially in multi-generational households.
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Jennifer Liston-Smith, business psychologist for the nursery provider Bright Horizons, reminded the audience that parents of older children may have different responsibilities to those parenting younger children. Pet owners are carers too, she added.
But while the needs and types of carers are diverse, responsible employers must acknowledge that caring responsibilities tend to fall largely on women, as Marek Broniewski, senior vice president EMEA regulatory reward for banking firm Citi, noted. This should spur action, he suggested. “If we don’t get a broad section of society involved in caring for children and elderly relatives then a small group, traditionally women, will have to bear the emotional, career and financial burden of that,” said Broniewski. Employers can help support a wider range of carers, he argued.
Go beyond the basics
Embracing job sharing, part-time work patterns, shift flexibility and options to work outside of traditional working hours can all help foster inclusivity, panellists reminded the audience. People with caring responsibilities, mental health conditions and disabilities “want to work, but may not be able to work in exactly the same way as everybody else”, said Van Zyl. Employers must embrace new ways of working, she urged.
Read more: HR must encourage working carers to seek support
Maternity leave is only part of the solution for supporting parents and people trying to become parents. Frances Cushway, founder of The Maternity Coach consultancy, advised employers to “reflect on the many routes to parenthood”, including making provisions for adoptive parents and people with fertility issues.
For Liston-Smith, the most effective strategies for creating an inclusive environment involve employers offering practical solutions such as backup emergency care, workplace nurseries, nursery partnerships and virtual tutoring for older children. She described Bright Horizons’ parental leave toolkit offering as a benefit that “hand-holds individuals through their parental leave transition”. It contains checklists for parents, video tips and reminders for employers, such as return-to-work and keep-in-touch day dates.
Get the language right
Line manager training is important for providing effective support to employees with caring responsibilities. Empower managers to implement policies and communicate clearly, the panel advised.
“A lot of organisations we work with are paying attention to making language more inclusive, such as recognising that a trans man can be a birth parent, or recognising that being a carer of other adults is not a label that many people assign to themselves,” said Liston-Smith. It’s important not to label people, she warned. “If we want to find out who the carers are in our organisation, we have to find smarter ways of doing it.”
She cited the example of an engineering firm that held a seminar focused on how to navigate caring responsibilities. The aim was to help employees who might not identify themselves as carers, as well as identify these people so that the employer could offer support. “For that business, the seminar was the beginning of understanding their carer population,” said Liston-Smith.
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“Before that, the people attending would not have said: ‘I’m a carer'; they didn’t see it as an identity. We need to be careful about the language we use, but also get beyond the language, sometimes, and focus on people’s needs.”
A positive future
The panel concluded that a person-centred approach, recognising and supporting individuals’ diverse practical and emotional needs, should form the foundation of an inclusive, supportive workplace. Broniewski stressed the importance of raising awareness of the available support, advising companies to “advertise benefits to make sure different groups respond to them.”
And remember to see people holistically, said Cushway. “The things that our employees do outside of work will bring value back into the workplace.”
This article was published in the January/February 2025 edition of HR magazine.
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