How employers can build competitive advantage with a parent-friendly workplace

Striking the balance between work and life can be a struggle. But for many employees, parenting and caring responsibilities make this juggle even harder. 

More Australian households are dual-income families than ever before. According to the ABS, nearly three-quarters (73%) of couple families with children aged 0-14 years have both parents employed.

Despite both parents earning an income, working parents still face significant challenges. Some of the biggest concerns include struggling to achieve work-life balance, navigating parental guilt when returning to work and experiencing financial pressure due to the rising cost of living and growing childcare expenses.

Plus, families are more acutely impacted by the growing primary healthcare access crisis in Australia. Not only is it increasingly difficult and expensive to visit a GP, but working parents face additional hurdles, such as trying to schedule doctor appointments around work and school commitments.

Even at work, parents are finding it hard to perform at their best. Research shows that 7 in 10 (70%) of parents have put their career on the back burner to raise their children, with 2 in 5 reporting they’ve missed out on work opportunities due to being a parent. There are gendered nuances, too. Women are shown to be more likely to experience parental guilt than men.

But, there are practical steps employers can take to tackle these challenges head-on. By increasing access to affordable childcare, introducing flexible work arrangements, and rolling out equitable parental leave policies, companies can build supportive workplace cultures that enable working parents to thrive.

Below, we break down the latest stats from the Parents At Work National Working Families Report 2024 to offer a data-driven guide for how employers can reduce the load for working parents using innovative solutions like Sonder’s 24/7 integrated support platform.

The same report found that the biggest challenge in balancing work and family commitments continues to be the ability of working parents and carers to look after their physical and mental health. Again, women were also overrepresented in reporting difficulties in looking after their mental and physical health (50%, compared to 35% of men).

Interestingly, while three-quarters of respondents consider their workplace to be family-friendly, half also agree that workers’ commitment to their jobs is questioned if they use family-friendly work arrangements.

The cost of raising a family continues to be a clear theme in this report. A clear paradox exists: parents need to work more to afford the high costs of childcare. But in order to work more, they need to rely on childcare, meaning many parents are working simply to afford childcare.

The high cost of living means parents are often returning to work sooner than they’d like after paid parental leave entitlements end. Plus, the growing ‘return to the office’ mandate is increasing working parent’s reliance on childcare, with employees forced to spend more time in the office.

One of the biggest hidden challenges facing working parents is Australia’s primary healthcare access crisis. While many employees are struggling to secure timely GP appointments, carers and parents face a unique set of challenges when trying to access essential care for themselves and their children.

Whether it’s a stomach bug spreading through daycare or an unexpected rash that develops late at night, working parents are responsible for getting their kids to the doctor whenever illness or injury strikes.

Along with lengthy appointment wait times and high out-of-pocket costs, parents also need to navigate the challenges of keeping kids home from school and finding an appointment that doesn’t clash with an important work meeting. The longer it takes to receive the care, the longer it’ll likely take for parents and their kids to get back to health, too.

Throw in a long commute to the nearest GP clinic, a partner travelling interstate for work, and a second child needing to be picked up from school, and it’s not hard to see why working parents are forced to take sick leave, leading to a rise in absenteeism.

Even when parents do return to work, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to perform at their best. They might need to leave early for follow-up appointments or be navigating the stress and financial strain of paying for unexpected healthcare bills. Without access to a more flexible solution (like an employer-subsided GP telehealth service), working parents may even struggle to progress in their careers too.

As an employer, you can positively impact the lives of your employees and their families. By putting the needs of working parents on your agenda, you can lower workplace disruptions, boost employee engagement and even attract top talent to your organisation.

Businesses that implement telehealth solutions report at least a 22% reduction in absenteeism costs.

As a business, here’s what you stand to gain by investing in the health and wellbeing of working parents:

Increased employee engagement and productivity

By giving employees access to timely, affordable healthcare and wellbeing support, you can prevent small health issues from becoming large, costly problems. Plus, you can ensure your teams are performing at their best and free from untreated illnesses, chronic pain or fatigue.

Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism

Workers with untreated chronic illnesses take, on average, two to three times more sick leave than those receiving early medical intervention. By investing in working parent wellbeing, you can prevent employees from “pushing through” illnesses and injuries—ensuring they are able to proactively prevent and quickly treat emerging health and wellbeing concerns.

Enhanced employer brand

Top talent expect a top-tier employee experience from the companies they work with. By rolling out a service that offers 24/7 personal safety, medical and mental health support, you can give the best applicants another reason to pick you over other organisations.

Improved workplace culture and team diversity

Working parents bring a wealth of professional and personal experience to your team. By creating inclusive company cultures that prioritise flexibility, wellbeing and work-life balance, you’ll be best placed to build a dynamic, diverse workforce that is engaged in driving your business forward.

Ultimately, offering proactive medical access and wellbeing services isn’t just another expense on your P&L statement. Instead, it’s an investment in your company and the people that are key to achieving success.

Ready to create a workplace culture that better supports working parents? If you’d like to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism, boost employee engagement and become an employer of choice for top-tier talent, here are four practical places to start:

1. Implement flexible work arrangements: From flexible start and finish times to hybrid work arrangements and compressed workweeks, give your people more autonomy over when and where they work. For working parents, flexibility is key to navigating the work-life juggle and being able to participate in the workforce fully.
2. Advocate for generous parental leave (PPL) policies: Consider evolving your leave policies beyond the minimum requirements by aligning your paid parental leave policies with best practice, which constitutes between 18-26 weeks of paid parental leave to new parents. Plus, ensure caring policies are label-free and gender-neutral by removing primary and secondary carer labels from policies to encourage men to take PPL.
3. Foster a culture of open communication: Educate your leaders on family-friendly policies and provide training on how managers can better support their direct reports to achieve work-life balance. Plus, set a positive example by promoting employees from all walks of life (including working parents) to leadership and managerial positions.
4. Consider the Parent At Work’s certification program and membership: A practical step to creating an industry-leading, family-friendly workplace is to become a certified Family Inclusive Workplace, this certification program provides employers with a benchmark of best practice guidelines and a work and family action plan to embed family-friendly practices into your operations. Find out more about the certification process and consider exploring the Parents At Work membership program, which provides the tools, support and resources you need to become an industry leading, family-friendly inclusive workplace.

The key is to see this as a long-term investment in your workforce and the future of your company, giving your organisation the edge and better supporting your people along the way.

Want to support your teams to feel healthier, happier and safer? Sonder’s 24/7 integrated support platform addresses the diverse needs of working parents and their families.

With a focus on early intervention, Sonder’s holistic platform acts as a single point of entry for all kinds of care, from personal safety to mental health to medical support. From the Sonder app, your employees (including working parents) can connect with health professionals via chat or call, with an average response time of just 10 seconds.

Here’s how:

• Employees can receive around-the-clock medical care for themselves and their children to address health concerns immediately, day or night. Registered nurses are on hand to offer direct clinical advice or refer employees to a GP for a timely telehealth appointment, removing barriers to accessing preventative care.
• Connecting with GPs via telehealth helps to alleviate workplace disruptions to get issues resolved sooner and even provide faster access to prescriptions (streamlining healthcare access for parents navigating chronic conditions or dealing with common illnesses).
• From talk-based therapy to in-depth clinical psychology, Sonder’s mental health support connects working parents with counsellors, psychologists and social workers. This ensures parents can proactively deal with things like stress, anxiety and burnout, all helping to manage life’s challenges and build resilience across your workforce.
• Plus, Sonder’s personal safety support can help your people stay safe and gain peace of mind. Within the app, employees can use ‘Track my journey’ to stay safe while travelling or on the go, with our support team ready to help if a trip stops unexpectedly or a member fails to confirm their arrival.

Companies that prioritise employee health see measurable improvements in productivity, retention, and workplace morale. Investing in proactive, accessible healthcare solutions today can prevent significant financial and operational losses in the future. Plus, putting the needs of working parents front-and-centre allows you to build a thriving, engaged and diverse workforce.

For a deeper analysis of how GP telehealth can transform your workforce, download the Breaking the access block report now.

Ready to see Sonder’s features in action? Try it now and see for yourself.