Managing parents through the school summer holidays

There are many stages of parenthood, each presenting different challenges to the working mum or dad. From sleepless nights early on to the financial pressures of a growing family. 

One challenge that is near impossible to avoid (for many, many years) is how to care for school-aged children during the endless school summer holidays. For the majority of the year, the routine is set – drop the children off before 9am, facilitate a 3pm-ish pick up (or use an afterschool club to cover the time until a 9-5 finishes).

But for most of July and August, that goes out of the window, and far more extensive daytime childcare is called for. 

That said, your employees have accepted the job and what it entails (as well as accepting family life), and ultimately it is up to them to make it work.  You are there to run a business not play social worker – but you’ll still care.

Management skills

So in come your management skills.

• How you manage workflows when more annual leave than usual may be being taken.
• Your communication with parents to see what solutions they suggest and how you could help practically.
• Remaining fair to your employees who do not have children, not disadvantaging them.

Annual leave

Annual leave is a natural remedy for some of the summer holiday period. Families with school-aged children are most likely going to be restricted to taking their holidays over school breaks, whether that is one long holiday or a few days here and there. 

You should already have an annual leave policy, so make sure you grant annual leave fairly in accordance with this. If it is first come, first served and someone without children has booked time off first, this must stand.

Flexible working

Any temporary reduction in hours does mean pay is reduced too. This is not really flexible working. 

Proper flexible working might involve a permanent change to their contract. This should be done in writing.

The right to request flexible working has long now been enshrined in law, and there are important rules you must follow as an employer when you receive a request, including having a good business reason for turning it down. 

Communication and planning

Remember, it is not your role to find solutions. But where employees have an issue, listen to suggestions that they make and be open to anything that might be reasonable for you to do… and fair to the rest of the workforce. Giving unfair advantage to working parents, or assuming the rest of the workforce will pick up the slack, will not lead to a harmonious team.

Hot on the heels of the school holiday scenario is something else related: parents with children starting school in September where they attend part time for the first few weeks.

Hopefully, all of these burdens are not left on the shoulders of mothers alone. Ensure you know your team, and try to avoid projects that have tight deadlines during the school holidays. Good planning and communication will encourage a positive, collaborative workplace culture that fosters mutual trust and loyalty.

Here for the school holidays… and the rest of the year

Whether it is your staff springing requests on you, or planning gaps that leave you short, school-holiday-related issues can lead to difficult conversations and decisions. This is where having a trusted HR adviser on hand can pay dividends. To discuss a case, please contact us today.