A Way Forward for Working Parents | Harvard Business Review

Although working parenthood was never easy, the pandemic has made it more of a crisis. And while it might seem premature to explore what being a working parent will look like in a post-pandemic world (especially with COVID case infections reaching new heights in recent days), this detailed article provides a case for how individuals, teams, and organizations can reimagine and shift their perspective on this topic. The article notes that this shift requires moving from Working Parenthood 1.0 (hiding our struggles, buckling down, and feeling perennially bad, guilty, failing, lonely) to Working Parenthood 2.0, in which all working parents can feel more confident, connected, and in control. It offers strategies that everyone can begin to employ to make a significant difference for working parents going forward. For example, at the organizational level, Employee Groups (often referred to as affinity networks, resource groups, or ERGs) for working parents are becoming commonplace in large and midsize organizations. As a bonus resource, here is a 28-minute podcast from HBR IdeaCast with Ellen Ernst Kossek, titled Managing Working Parents During the Pandemic, which outlines specific ways to give working parents more flexibility while still holding them accountable.