The HR leader’s checklist for supporting working parents

Ensure your benefits are accessible, inclusive, and well understood  

Benefits are top of mind for working parents. Traditional healthcare often leaves working parents behind, and they need more tools and resources to support themselves and their families. Here’s how you can evaluate gaps in your benefits plans, particularly when it comes to inclusivity and accessibility for working parents.  

Talk to parents in your organization 

It may seem simple, but opening and maintaining a dialogue with parents in your organization is crucial to supporting them as they balance work and home. Consider running surveys, hosting a focus group, connecting with ERGs, or reaching out to parents individually to identify gaps in your benefits and solutions. 

Holding a safe space for a discussion can help parents feel comfortable sharing what type of support they need the most, whether it’s more flexibility at work, treatment-specific benefits, or mental health resources. With insights from your team, you can offer personalized benefits that can help you address the diverse needs of your employee population. 

‍Consider the user experience  

Inclusive benefits also need to be accessible to different groups of people within your organization. Think deeply about the user experience of an employee: 

- Are benefits straightforward and easy to access? 
- Are offerings consolidated or spread across different providers and in different locations? 
- How do engagement numbers compare among different benefits? 
- Is the language advertising each benefit accessible and easy to understand? 
- Are your benefits equitable across all office and employee locations?

Accessibility is as important as inclusivity — if working parents can’t easily identify, discover, or make use of benefits specific to their needs, the benefits won’t be able to make a difference. 

Emphasize diversity and inclusion in your offerings 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are now table stakes for businesses. There are ample links between diversity and financial performance, and job-seekers (especially millennials) consistently cite diversity as one of the most important factors when weighing offers.  However, diversity and inclusion go beyond hiring— benefits need to reflect and support a diverse workforce’s needs. 

Consider how you’re supporting historically marginalized groups like people of color and LGBTQIA+ community members, especially as it relates to starting and raising a family. Are employees able to access benefits regardless of their location, background, gender identity, or sexual orientation? For example, delineations between primary and secondary caregivers often don’t reflect the realities of LGBTQIA+ families, or fertility care that requires a diagnosis of infertility inherently excludes same-sex couples seeking treatment. Inclusive care is comprehensive care, after all.

Modernize your family care and maternity care benefits  

It’s more important than ever to support working parents, whether they’re trying to conceive, considering adoption or surrogacy, or raising children. For your benefits to be effective, they need to meet parents where they are. Access to care, quality of care, and continuity of care all significantly impact productivity for working parents.

Expand access to telehealth and on-demand care 

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic paved the way for accessible and affordable virtual-first healthcare. For working parents, this means they can easily find appointments for questions or support for themselves or their children, reducing their mental burden and the strain on their schedules. 

Maven’s Parenting & Pediatrics program, for example, provides working parents with 24/7 access to on-demand appointments with specialty providers, with appointments often available within the hour. 

‍Provide access to educational content and other resources

It’s normal for parents and parents-to-be to have many questions, and it’s often difficult to find medically-accurate content online. Providing employees with access to a library of clinically-vetted content as they start and raise their families can be an invaluable resource. Finding a benefit that offers virtual workshops or peer groups can also help parents find the information they need when they need it. 

‍Implement flexible work arrangements 

Flexible schedules are among the most commonly offered benefits to help new parents readjust to work after parental leave. Providing parents with the flexibility to set their working hours as needed can ease their burden, preventing them from having to reduce their hours or leave their roles entirely.

Support the mental health of working parents  

Working parents often struggle with burnout, anxiety, and depression, and look to their employer for care. Supporting their mental health is mission-critical to keeping working parents productive and retaining them in your organization.

Evaluate your company culture from the top-down 

Company culture plays a huge role in the employee experience, from how they feel about their work to how they feel about themselves. Evaluate the messaging and behavior from executive leadership down to people leaders,  to identify areas for improvement, especially as it relates to working styles and engagement.  

If working parents are experiencing difficulties with mental health or are slow to engage with or adopt new benefits, leadership can set a strong example to encourage improvements. This includes engendering positive attitudes towards taking leave, engaging in benefits, balancing work and life responsibilities, and asking for help when needed. 

Provide resources that tangibly support mental health 

Supporting mental health requires resources that can both educate those in need and comfort them as they seek help. Stigma surrounding mental health treatment affects millions in the workplace annually — a 2019 study by the American Psychiatric Association found that about half of American workers are concerned about discussing mental health issues in the workplace. 

Providing resources for working parents can help combat the stigma while tangibly improving their mental health. Common mental health resources: 

- Access to telehealth providers 
- Educational content, webinars, and events 
- Training for managers and people leaders