omething that I have been giving a lot of thought lately is mental health during this pandemic. With many voices having argued for parents, and especially mothers, to make themselves a priority in order to be able to better care for their children, this seems more difficult now than ever. If separating employees’ personal life from their professional one was a blurry line before, this line has almost evaporated now, with many parents seeing themselves obligated to multitask and perform both roles simultaneously.
In response, working parents' emotional and intellectual loads have increased exponentially and keep doing so every day on which home office and homeschooling have to coexist. I notice it daily, living in a 6-month long quarantine environment in Argentina, either by seeing parents working on their laptops while looking after their children playing outside and by overhearing tired parents and children fighting, or by seeing my manager’s kids showing up on calls.
The fact that this session was so very personal for many of the speakers made it more insightful. One takeaway for me, as I am slowly joining the club of working adults, is that there is a need for less stigma—offering benefits to working parents by allowing them to make their workload more flexible and accepting a helping hand from employers.
Parents should feel that they can take down their professional veil, as one of the GTS speakers, Courtney McBeth put it, and showcase that they are parents in addition to working professionals. We are seeing more children in meetings, and this has helped make life with children less taboo, which will increase intimacy among co-workers. While I am not a parent yet, I would be happy if the world I am bringing my future kids into is one that’s glad to see them jump in front of the camera while I am in a virtual meeting.
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Reflecting on the Needs of Working Parents in a Changing World
October 16, 2020
S
omething that I have been giving a lot of thought lately is mental health during this pandemic. With many voices having argued for parents, and especially mothers, to make themselves a priority in order to be able to better care for their children, this seems more difficult now than ever. If separating employees’ personal life from their professional one was a blurry line before, this line has almost evaporated now, with many parents seeing themselves obligated to multitask and perform both roles simultaneously.
In response, working parents' emotional and intellectual loads have increased exponentially and keep doing so every day on which home office and homeschooling have to coexist. I notice it daily, living in a 6-month long quarantine environment in Argentina, either by seeing parents working on their laptops while looking after their children playing outside and by overhearing tired parents and children fighting, or by seeing my manager’s kids showing up on calls.
The fact that this session was so very personal for many of the speakers made it more insightful. One takeaway for me, as I am slowly joining the club of working adults, is that there is a need for less stigma—offering benefits to working parents by allowing them to make their workload more flexible and accepting a helping hand from employers.
Parents should feel that they can take down their professional veil, as one of the GTS speakers, Courtney McBeth put it, and showcase that they are parents in addition to working professionals. We are seeing more children in meetings, and this has helped make life with children less taboo, which will increase intimacy among co-workers. While I am not a parent yet, I would be happy if the world I am bringing my future kids into is one that’s glad to see them jump in front of the camera while I am in a virtual meeting.
