2022 EOY Outlook for Working Parents
The majority of our nation’s 63 million parents work.[1] Over the past several years, working parents have become a central discussion point for business leaders contemplating business strategy, workforce retention, and HR policies in a new era of work. Parents and employers alike have shifted their expectations of today’s workplace – from how and where work gets done, to what is being measured in gauging employee success, and the intentionality with which family-friendly policies are being integrated into the fabric of a company’s policy and culture. In 2023, the topics of childcare, parental leave benefits, flexible schedules, and remote/hybrid work will continue to be top of mind for business leaders and will shape what the future of work and the workforce will look like in the next decade.
The Best Place for Working Parents provides evidence-based family-friendly policy recommendations to help companies stay competitive and help parents make informed choices about their places of work. We know through proven research and our conversations with hundreds of business leaders and working parents that family-friendly policies can be beneficial for both working parents and businesses, creating an environment where employees feel valued and workplaces function at maximum productivity.
The Best Place for Working Parents team sees 2023 trends coming down to three key topics:
● Hybrid and remote work are becoming the norm for knowledge workers and especially for small businesses (less than 200 employees), as these business leaders seek ways to stay competitive amidst more expensive policies that larger companies may offer. And flexibility and remote work can help employers, too – working from home can increase employee performance by 13% and reduce attrition group by 50%.[2] In fact, flexibility and remote work are such affordable and effective methods for creating a more family-friendly workplace that today, 90% of all 1,140 Best Place for Working Parents® designated companies across the U.S. have a remote work and/or flexibility policy in place.
● Industry matters when it comes to which family-friendly policies are being implemented across diverse sectors. Our recent National Trends Report published together with SMU Center on Research and Development found that different industries lead in implementing key family-friendly practices. For example, while more than half of our designated companies offer maternity leave, the Business and Information and the Finance and Insurance industries are leading the way in implementing parental leave policies. The Construction and Utilities industry is more likely to offer child care assistance and backup child care than other industry competitors, while the Healthcare industry offers more nursing benefits and onsite child care policies than others. Many industries are getting creative in which of the top 10 family-friendly benefits they are implementing to support their working parent employee base – which is good news to the parents looking for these benefits and the employers that reap the rewards of a more engaged and productive workforce.[3]
● In the United States, parental supports are no longer just a perk for large businesses. Businesses of all sizes are finding ways to support their mothers and working parents throughout the parent life cycle. Across size and industry, four of our top 10 research-backed policies are in place in at least 90% of Best Place for Working Parents® designated organizations, including: 1) employee and dependent healthcare, 2) paid time off, 3) flexible hours, and 4) remote work. And for employers thinking about very real child care challenges of their workforce, there are incredible tax benefits that any sized business can take advantage of. The National Child Care Toolkit we published this year provides eight different types of child care support options that businesses can offer, depending on their size and employee base.
Today, we know there is not a “one size fits all” approach to building business policies that attract and retain working parents in today’s world of work. And in 2023, we will continue to see companies across size and industry that are innovating in the ways they are supporting a growing majority of today’s workforce – while also boosting their organization’s bottom line. To learn more, visit www.BestPlace4WorkingParents.com.
[1] Parents = children under the age of 18. Source: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/estimates-families-living-arrangements.html#:~:text=2%2C%202020%20%E2%80%94%20Newly%20released%20estimates,2010%20to%2063.1%20million%20in
[2] Source: https://werklabs.com/
[3] Industry trends included for the top 10 industries in the Best Place for Working Parents® network.