Supporting Working Parents During Back-to-School Season

Back to school brings an array of challenges for working parents. Learn how to support your finance team members who are parents during the back-to-school season, helping them balance their professional and personal responsibilities effectively. Contact our team to learn how we can help with your staffing needs.

Allow flexibility but make it available to all:

While you think about affording parents flexibility during the school season, you should also consider it for nonparents who may feel slighted that they’re not afforded similar breaks just because they don’t have children. Benefits equality is critical to building a culture supportive of work/life balance, and it’s essential to remember that ‘family’ does not simply mean children.  If flexibility is granted to parents dealing with a back-to-school schedule, do the same for employees who need to take a parent, spouse, or themselves to the doctor. Additionally, with flexibility should come accountability. Encourage employees to be as proactive as possible in creating plans to meet deadlines and commitments as they adjust to the back-to-school season so that the work doesn’t fall to someone else. But don’t deny working parents the ability to adjust their schedule out of fear of needing to accommodate nonparent employees.

Address worry and guilt:

Working parents deal with a lot of juggling. Their productivity may be stifled by more than just the scheduling challenges that come with back-to-school season. Parents can also be plagued by worries about how their children will do in school and can become distracted from job duties. There is continuous assessment in schools, and parents may worry that their child isn’t meeting the “norm.” They may worry about the teacher or whether the child’s needs are being met. In addition, it’s not unusual for working parents to be concerned with how co-workers and managers will perceive them during back-to-school season.  Common concerns are that they will be viewed as less committed to their jobs or that they will miss out on increased responsibilities within the company. Managers can help by simply showing interest in the school year and how a worker’s child is doing. And for working parents who work from home part-time or full-time, make sure to include them in video calls so they feel connected to team members, even when they’re not in the office daily.

Offer financial benefits:

According to U.S. national statistics, the average planned back-to-school spending per household in the U.S. has gradually increased year-over-year to reach nearly $900 as of 2023. Paired with inflation and the already skyrocketing cost of living expenses, financial stress can take a real toll on working parents this time of year. In fact, nearly two-thirds (60%) of working parents said they would consider an additional flexible work position to supplement their income in 2024, according to research from Bloomberg. Offering financial wellness benefits like education and sessions with advisors – such as through an employee assistance program – can help working parents get a handle on their finances and prepare for the associated costs throughout the school year.

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Our highly skilled staffing consultants can support your management teams in an ever-changing work environment. Contact us to learn more about our accounting & finance staffing services.