Beyond Childcare: Inclusive family support strategies

Key takeaways

1. Define family widely and keep reminding people what support covers

   Gray described family as including ageing parents and siblings as well as children. Marsh McLennan gives each colleague 15 days of backup care for children or adult dependants, but over 90% has always gone on childcare. So Gray runs reminders at least once a year, timed before the school holidays, and points out that adult care can also help colleagues recovering at home after their own operation.

2. Coach parents on their careers, not on parenting

   Gray's group sessions for expecting and returning parents, in cohorts of 12 to 15, focus on worries such as whether the job will still be there. The cohorts then become support networks. At RPC, Odlum offers three one-to-one sessions for both the parent and the manager, plus a manager toolkit, and 65% of participants said they felt better equipped to manage their careers alongside family.

3. Measure return rates and absence before you start

   Liston-Smith said parental coaching, manager training and toolkits tend to lift maternity return rates by 12 to 14 percentage points above a national average of about 77%. The Bright Horizons benchmark sets out how to calculate the saving, which Liston-Smith put at perhaps £150,000 in a firm of 1,000 people. Record your absence levels before introducing backup care too, because Liston-Smith said they fall once it is in place.

4. Benchmark against yourself before your competitors

   Marsh McLennan is made up of four businesses with different policies and providers, so Gray first benchmarked them against each other to agree one best practice. Only then did the firm compare itself with competitors. Both Gray and Odlum also use staff surveys, networks and forums to shape what they offer. Bright Horizons' Parental Leave and Family Support Benchmark, built from more than 500 HR leaders, ranks provision as basics, core offerings or competitive edge.

5. Make gender-neutral leave part of the picture

   Liston-Smith said equal leave, offered regardless of a parent's role in the family and separate from shared parental leave, is growing fast in the benchmark. Even a modest offer of six weeks boosts paternity leave and makes the policy inclusive. Liston-Smith noted that fathers back at work after two weeks with little sleep are often among the most disengaged employees.

6. Low-budget support starts with managers and networks

   Odlum said a supportive manager costs nothing and matters more than any benefit budget. Gray called Marsh McLennan's roughly 3,000 UK line managers a potential 'postcode lottery', so Gray gives them free crib sheets with conversation starters. Volunteer-run parent and carer networks, awareness days such as National Work Life Week and free webinars all cost little.