With more employees working from home currently, many are juggling family responsibilities along with their job workload. This can be stressful and infringe on the company’s work time. Thoughtful employers can help their workers to balance home and job duties by offering guidance and support to these efforts.
Contribute Suggestions or Compensation for Family Care
Older relatives or those with a chronic illness may need help from the at-home employee. Company leaders can provide helpful strategies to those caring for family members; for example, employees looking after older loved ones at home have better peace of mind when relying on one of the highly-rated medical alert systems. Meal delivery could be another much-appreciated time saver by work-from-home employees. While the company does not necessarily have to bear these costs, they can help to connect employees with community services and provide contributions of time or funds, if feasible, to help secure the services. Companies that contribute to this type of family support can earn their employees’ gratitude and loyalty.
Provide Options for Family Obligations
Parents who are working from home might need to drop off the kids at school or wait with them outside for the school bus and get them after school. Employers can reduce employee anxiety for this task by adjusting the employees’ start and stop time for their work shift or providing break options to accommodate these needs. Similarly, kids’ doctor appointments can be managed by a parent when the company offers flex time or comp time when the employee works additional time to make up the schedule delay.