What is Next Steps Parenting PLAN?
Is your company looking for ways to retain employees and, disrupt what has been quoted, the great resignation, if so, keep reading. Nearly three million American women left the labor force in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Historically, caregiving has been left to women. The role of caregiver demands increased drastically during the coronavirus pandemic. These demands have parents, especially mothers, re-evaluating their work-life balance. As many as one in four corporate women have said they are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce all together. Let's not leave dads out of the equation either. A survey by Carlson and Colleagues found that, according to both men and women, men were doing more childcare and housework during the pandemic than they did before. Spending more time has led fathers to feeling closer to their children and wanting to be more engaged.
You probably already know this, but four million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021 and there were 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July. The great resignation is highest among mid career employees aged between 30 to 45. Due to the greater demand for them, it gives them greater leverage in securing new positions. The age range between 30 and 45 is where most parents lie. The average rate of first-time mothers in America is 26 and is 31 for fathers, so that 30 to 45 range consists of a large number of parents.
Resignation rates were higher among employees who worked in fields that had experienced extreme increases in demand due to the pandemic, likely leading to increased workloads and burnout. Mental burnout after returning from maternal paternal leave leads to turnover which can costs your company anywhere from $20,000 and up. The problem is is that the great resignation or high turnover causes damage to your company's reputation, which makes it more difficult to attract top talent, resentment and burnout as employees scramble to make up the work of the person that has left and loss of productivity due to low morale and lack of motivation. That low morale and lack of motivation stems from maybe more work because the person has left so there is an increase in burn out, which in both impact productivity.
But luckily this new Parent PLAN program for career parents provides just the support your parents need in transitioning back after maternal paternal leave to stay with the company.
It’s the best method we've discovered to decrease turnover, support the transition back to work, reduce mental burnout of working parents and promote positive supportive culture for working parents. And I'm going to reveal the details to you in a minute.
But first I need to explain why this work so well. Working parents returning for maternal paternal leave feel overwhelmed by the transition back into the work environment without support from their company. Policies that provide flexibility and support for working parents will be key to attracting and retaining top talent.
A survey conducted about post maternity concerns in returning to work cites lack of flexibility and feelings of being overwhelmed. And yes we are including dads, because paternity leave has become a benefit offered to dads here in recent years. But there is a lag in the research because the paternity leave is newer than maternity leave, and so these were some of the mom's post maternity concerns. They worried about work-life balance. That was a great percentage of what they worried about. They worried about feeling overwhelmed, they felt intimidated and they worried about making mistakes at work, which addressed in the Parent PLAN program for career parents.
Buzzfeed, a media company has achieved a 95% paternal return to work rate by providing progressive parental leave benefits, such as resources to help with the transition back to work after parental leave. This increased by 37% so initially their paternal return to work was at 53-57% and they increased it to 95% after incorporating parental leave benefits and offering resources and help with the transition back to work.
Step 1: Prepare
So let's talk about step one of the parent plan program for career parents. Step one is to prepare in advance. So, we help working parents to begin to prepare 90 days out from their on what items need to be covered for work and home to transition smoothly. As a result, parents will feel empowered and peaceful as they have a solid 90 day plan.
A former client of mine said the idea of returning to work has felt so overwhelming but with your guidance and suggestions, I feel so much better.
Step 2: Learn Your Limits
Step two of the parent plant program for career parents is: L - learn your limits. Parents will have sessions on setting boundaries around their time and capacity and, as a result, parents will have the tools to set and maintain healthy boundaries which in turn will ease stress.
Step 3: Ask for Help
A of the of the parent plan program for career parents is to ask for help. These sessions will help parents create a support system for themselves both at work and at home, and, as a result, parents will feel confident returning to work as they know that help is not only on the way but in place and ready to go.
A conference attendee where I presented provided this testimonial: If you had not talked about this today, I wouldn't have known that postpartum depression was a thing. I thought I was going crazy. I know now how to find help. And, so a lot of times when parents aren't sure of what's going on with them, they don't know where to find help, and so this program offers support and resources in helping them find and ask for what it is that they need.
Step 4: Name Your Feelings
Step four of the parent plan program for career parents is N name your feelings. A private parent community specifically for your parent employees to address their feelings and find support on how to manage and work through those feelings and as a result, parents feel supported and able to comfortably express their concerns in this new role. And so parents, participant from a company's parent support group that I created and conducted, said these parents support group meetings have been helpful. It helps me to know that I'm not the only parent having these issues. I don't feel so alone.
I'll help your company decrease turnover cost, support the transition back to work, reduce mental burnout of working parents and promote positive supportive culture for working parents. So if you want us to help your corporation reduce mental burnout and decrease turnover costs of your working parents, schedule your navigation call.