Creating a Best Workplace for Parents During a Pandemic Requires Intentionality
It’s no secret that the pandemic’s effects — from office closures to the cancellation of events — have upended the lives of everyone. It’s a lot for anyone to navigate, but the impact can be compounded for caregivers, parents, and guardians who are also caring for loved ones. According to a recent workplace study by Catalyst and CNBC, four in 10 (41%) parents say they fear being penalized because they have childcare responsibilities.
We’ve always prioritized employee wellbeing but doubling down on these efforts has become more important than ever. Over the past several months, we have been working diligently to support our employees as they navigate this difficult time — including working parents.
In order to stay close to our workforce and understand their changing needs, we introduced new wellbeing surveys, which have helped us make data-driven decisions to better support our employees in this new environment. The data has shown us that working parents in particular have struggled to juggle the responsibilities of work, home and family.
During this time, Salesforce has extended our existing benefits and created new programs to help address today’s challenges.
Extending Our Back-Up Child Care Program
Creating a B-Well Together Parenting Series
Expanding Our Global Family Leave Policy
Encouraging Fun for the Entire Family
Lately, as the line between our workplaces and living rooms merge, we’ve been more intentional about creating programs that the entire family can enjoy. This year, we hosted Salesforce Adventurers Club, a week-long virtual reimagining of Bring Your Kids To Work Day featuring live-streamed and pre-recorded sessions to educate, entertain, and delight children across the globe. This year, we had nearly 5,000 kids participate! The fun doesn’t stop there though. Recently, we introduced Fairytale Friday, where Salesforce kids are invited to have fun with Disney’s most popular princesses. We’ve also introduced Little Ohana Cooking Sessions where kids can experiment in the kitchen under the guidance of Salesforce’s Culinary team. Thus far, we’ve made British scones, vegan mousse pots, and Easter chocolate nests.
Supporting the needs of working parents is a top priority for us. We prioritize wellbeing, and we invest in benefits and programs to keep our employees and their families happy and healthy, so they can bring their best selves to work every day.
If you want to learn more about how we’re supporting working parents please check out our benefits page. Afterward, discover what a career at Salesforce could be like!