Bite-Sized Insights: Working and Childcare during Lockdown

Each week we ask our trusted Insights panel of parents a key question. This week we were interested in finding out what their thoughts are about working and child care during lockdown. It turns out while some employers have been supportive, other parents have struggled and overall it’s been a juggle. Take a quick read of this week’s bite-sized insights to find out what else our trusted panel told us:

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.

Recommended reading: [INFOGRAPHIC] Insights from Parents on Baby & Pregnancy

We asked our Insights panel of parents to answer these quick questions:

What has been your experience of juggling childcare and work during COVID?

I have found myself less productive as I’ve had to combine work and child minding/homeschool 24%
My employer has been very supportive 24%
I have had to rely on family members to help 12%
My employer hasn’t really helped 9%
My children are older so it has been ok 6%
My regular childminder has kept working 4%
Other 21%

Any other thoughts on childcare? What could employers do better to support childcare challenges? How have your childcare needs changed during COVID and what needs will you have after lockdown?

Comments from our panel members included:

“Luckily my employer has been very supportive throughout this process. They have not put deadlines on me which has allowed me to successfully juggle working from home while taking care of my child. My childminder has agreed to work again now that schools are reopening. I fear this may change if the numbers rise again.”

“Both myself and partner are frontline workers. There was no support, we were just left to figure it out. With no family locally, it’s been an absolute nightmare.”

“It is very hard to give my daughter the attention she needs during my work hours. A suggestion would be for employers to allocate a few hours a week to allow working parents to give their children full attention.”

“During my last lockdown my childminder stopped working and I had to get a student teacher who was also out of college due to lockdown as my employer was not helpful. Unpaid leave would be my only option and would probably be refused.”

“I used to have one childminder Monday to Thursday and another for Fridays but with COVID I was worried about mixing households. My Mum used to be able to babysit some Fridays too but that’s not been possible with COVID.”

“Employers should be flexible as much as possible. We had parents helping pre COVID but aren’t keen to get them involved until vaccinated so will continue to make it work between us. Luckily I job-share and my husband works shifts so we usually manage.”

“So at the end it really is a lot of extra work, having a baby and a girl in 1st class. Having to pay attention to them, complete my work, help with the homework, etc. Both my wife and myself are working from home and this brings us to a lot of discussions regarding availability, schedules, etc. We’re both aware of the complications of this situation and of course health comes first. But we’re really looking forward having creches open again. We need it.”

Reflections for Employers

Childminding is changing, while there will always be a need for 8am to 6pm childcare, flexible child minding solutions will become more essential, are you prepared for this and how can you support employees who are parents?
Employers need to evaluate what worked and didn’t work in the past 12 months. Could more employees work from home post lockdown? What would be the benefits and what are the negatives?
Employers need to talk to employees to move forward in a way that suits the needs of both parties.
Can you help to source childminding services to support staff who are parents?

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.