Bite-Sized Insights: Parents Say They are More Productive When Not in the Office

Each week we ask our trusted Insights panel of parents a key question. This week we were interested in finding out how parents are working these days now that lockdown restrictions have eased. Take a quick read of this week’s bite-sized insights to find out what parents are saying about their current working situations.

Would you like business-transforming insights for your brand? Use our tailored panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help your decision making and activate customers. Contact us now to find how we can help.

We asked our Insights panel of parents to tell us which of the following best describes their current work situation. Here’s how they answered:

Note: The category of ‘other’ included those who are unemployed, parents whose workplaces are not in offices and frontline workers among others.

We also asked parents whether they think this change at all for 2022, and if they had any other thoughts on work in general. Comments from our panel members included:

“I am hoping it won’t as I prefer working from home. No office politics.”

“Probably. Will be back in the office most days depending on restrictions. A hybrid working option would be preferable for me as a working parent, it’s less stressful overall, less time spent getting to work, considerable cost saving on transport and child minding and more time spent with family.”

“I am burnt out and exhausted. Would love a change in 2022. Just need the courage and bravery to change.”

“Hopefully I will manage to keep being able to work part time to spend time with my kids and have money and adult conversation. My workplace is an essential service so will continue to be open.”

“Not unless childcare cost become massively subsidised as my current childcare costs would exceed my earning potential.”

“No change for 2022. Boss wants full return to office with no working from home. Would love a blended working arrangement.”

“I’d say working from home will continue for the foreseeable future including into 2022. I’m happy enough with this as I’ll save time on commuting but more importantly it’s the safest option considering the rising number of COVID cases in Ireland.”

“Location won’t change, will continue to work from home from now on but concerned about the level of work I will have.”

“I assume I will be back at some stage but my office are in no rush. I would ideally like a hybrid of 2 days in the office.”

“Civil service worker, management are trying to assist everyone, we are hoping to stay at home and also more productive there. Only issues is it can be chaotic between the hours of 8am-9am when the kids are up and getting ready for school.”

Key Trends and Insights from Parents:

Over the last 18 months, the media has been full of coverage expressing the desires of workers across age demographics and sectors to continue working from home once the worst of the pandemic has passed – and parents are no different. Some of the reasons parents want to continue this arrangement are the same as the wider working population – time and money saved on commutes, a more balanced work/social life, the ability to avoid the politics of the office. However, there are also parent-specific reasons. For example, the sometimes prohibitive cost of childcare means that parents are reluctant to return to full-time in-office working.

Employers who are making efforts to facilitate work from home will help retain talent and could increase productivity in parent employees who have told us they are often more productive working from home because they are less stressed and time pressed.

Would you like business-transforming insights from parents for your business? Use our tailored panels of engaged parents and our dedicated private platform to gather critical insights to help influence consumers to deliver long term profitability. Contact us now to find how we can help.