With the school summer holidays fast approaching, school closures can provide a headache for employees with childcaring responsibilities. In this article, we break down what options are available to both employees and their employers when it comes to balancing childcare and work. Whilst this may be an issue for all employees who have caregiving responsibilities for young children, we use the term ‘parent’ or ‘parents’ below.
Flexible working
Since the pandemic, the flexibility for employees to work from home has been hugely beneficial to parents. For some, a hybrid working pattern between the office and home is already part of employment contracts, so utilising this flexibility in school holidays should be relatively straightforward.
However, for those employees who do not benefit from flexible working, the law does now ensure that they are able to request flexible working twice in a 12-month period. Failure to consider, or in some cases accept, an employee’s flexible working request may lead to employers being at risk of a claim of indirect sex discrimination (from either parent). It’s worth noting that any changes to a contract of employment are permanent unless agreed otherwise; it’s likely that any changes would only be needed during the holidays, meaning that a statutory request may not be appropriate.
The option of requesting flexible working on an informal basis is also available to employees.
As such, if parents are unable to find alternative care, then allowing some flexibility during school holidays may be a sensible route for employers to take to help employees out, so long as having children at home doesn’t impact upon their productivity (or if it does, employees are able to make up any lost time).
Parental leave
Working parents (note this would only apply to those with parental responsibility and therefore, not usually grandparents) are entitled to request up to four weeks of unpaid parental leave per year, up until their child turns 18 (up to a maximum of 18 weeks per child). This could be a good option for employees to cover some of the summer holidays, but they do need to be mindful that they will not be paid for this time off (unless their employer has a policy that says otherwise). Should employers receive an influx of unpaid parental leave requests at any one time, then they will be able to reject requests. In the same way as traditional holiday requests, if there are too many employees requesting parental leave at one time (and/ or other employees have pre-existing holiday booked), employers may wish to allocate parental leave requests on a first come, first served basis – or speak to all those employees who have put in requests in order to see if they can be flexible.
Dependant leave
This is the right to take time off work to deal with an emergency involving someone who depends on you. Therefore, if childcare which has been organised for an employee’s child falls through at the last minute for example, then employees have the right to take unpaid dependant leave to look after their child.
Employees do not have to make up the time they take off, and the right is to take a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off to deal with the immediate or unexpected crisis – not for planned time off or to provide longer-term care for a dependant. School holidays are set and known about well in advance, so employees cannot rely on dependant leave to care for children generally in school holidays.
Reasonable time off depends on the situation, but it will usually not exceed one or two days. Employers can request evidence of an employee’s reasons for taking time off either at the time of the request or on an employee’s return to work. It is at the employer’s discretion if they choose to pay for any dependant leave. Employers may also have their own policy which either allows for more time off and/ or for employees to be paid in such circumstances.
Bringing children into the workplace
Keeping work life and family life separate is preferable for most employees – but for some bringing their children into the workplace may be their only option. This is often a worst-case scenario where all other avenues of childcare have been explored, but it is not uncommon for employees to occasionally request for their children to be allowed to come into the office with them where no other alternatives are available (i.e. if the employee has critical work meetings which mean that taking holiday, or parental or dependant leave is not feasible). Compared to the other options outlined above, bringing children into the workplace does require more consideration, such as:
- The potential disruption of having a child in the workplace may cause to other employees.
- Health and safety considerations of ensuring that a child is safe in the working environment (certain workplaces will not be suitable for children and so bringing them to work should not be considered in these instances).
- Supervision will be required at all times – if the parent of the child goes into a meeting, who is responsible for keeping an eye on them?
- If one employee is allowed to bring their child into the workplace, then others will expect the same opportunity to do so – employers need to be fair.
- The age of the child will be relevant too – a five-year old versus a ten-year old has very different needs.
In some rare instances, employees may benefit from their employer having childcare facilities onsite in the workplace (for example, some employers offer a crèche for staff to leave their children during the working day) which would mitigate the above issues arising. If not, employers may have, or consider, access (temporary or permanent) to other local employers’ or private crèches or nurseries.
Third-party childcare
The ever-increasing cost of childcare means that many employees will opt for the above as the most cost-effective options. However, government help is at hand for those parents who need it when it comes to childcare. Parents should check to see if they are eligible for any assistance to pay for childcare (clubs, childminders, nurseries, etc.) depending on their circumstances.
Conclusion
A parent in the workplace will always be a parent first, and employee second. The more flexible employers can be with employees to allow them to balance their work and parental responsibilities, the more likely they will see a more motivated, loyal workforce which will only benefit the organisation.