Managing the School Holidays as a Working Parent

When it comes to planning for school holidays, working parents and guardians face the huge task of making arrangements for their little people and deciding how they will go about managing the school holidays. This can be quite a stressful time, causing families to feel often guilty about not being around all of the time.

While the summer break does feel like a great opportunity for families to have a rest and spend some quality time together, this doesn’t always work for those with financial and career responsibilities. Especially those where employers cannot accommodate such a long holiday.

With summer clubs and childminders charging £30-£60 a day, it can soon scale depending on how many children you have. For a family with two children, contemplating six weeks of childcare could be upwards of £2400 without any food costs.

So, how can employers support their employees, and what can working parents do to manage?

What can employers do?

Employers can offer support to their people by:

• Talking to them to understand their situation
• Remember that not everyone has a wide support network available
• Offer full remote work to parents during the holidays
• Allow employees to flex their hours to fit around family
• Take any non-essential meetings out of the diary
• Measure the success of work projects on the outcome rather than the time spent
• Plan a bring your children to work day for a morale boost
• Allow unpaid leave if an employee requests it

How can you manage as a parent?

Working parents can create a fun and plentiful summer whilst still doing their best work by:

• Planning ahead – printing out a calendar of the whole six weeks and plotting out plans
• Involving children in the planning so that they have lots to look forward to
• Using childcare vouchers to pay for clubs and reduce costs
• Scattering annual leave with half days and full days to feel more connected
• Looking for approved local community holiday clubs
• Considering if your family could help with a day or two?
• Talking to local parent friends to share childcare responsibilities
• Flexing your hours – could you try a 6-10 am and 6-9 pm schedule instead of 9-5?

The more we work together to support our employees, the more engaged they will become. With this comes better output, retention, and professional and personal futures for everyone.

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