As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to influence all aspects of work and life, many technologist find themselves in a difficult position: They must balance out their standard daily workload with the need to watch their children, who are home thanks to the widespread closings of daycare facilities. As the falls draws closer, many of these parents may also need to figure out the best arrangements for remote learning.
How are technologists dealing with this familial pressure? Blind, which anonymously surveys technologists, recently conducted a survey and found that a minority expect to send their kids back to in-person schooling in the fall. In the meantime, the largest tech companies have a mixed record when it comes to providing the resources and time that parents need to effectively work while homeschooling.
“As Covid-19 shows no end in sight, the working parents who have not had their company accommodate for the new needs for homeschooling and summer needs, are struggling to find solutions,” suggested Blind’s blog posting accompanying the data. “With only 31 percent of surveyed working parents plan on sending their child to school in-person this Fall, what innovative solutions can be offered to parents who now live in their office?”
In addition to that 31 percent of parents sending their kids back to school this fall (or planning to, at least), around 56 percent of working parents said that their company hadn’t accommodated their homeschooling and summer needs. That percentage varies wildly by company, as you can see from the chart below; for example, a majority of Microsoft parents say that they’ve been accommodated, while only 24 percent of Amazon parents can say the same:
Meanwhile, here’s how technologists at the biggest companies are breaking down their school plans:
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, companies scrambled to determine how to best support their employees to efficiently work from home. Now that U.S. states are trying to re-open, these organizations are exploring the best ways to bring employees back to the office. There are no easy answers, and many companies have decided to either let their employees work from home for the foreseeable future (such as Twitter) or have delayed office re-entry for most employees until well into 2021 (Google). But with that embrace of remote work, it’s clear that companies will likely need to do something to address many technologists’ family and childcare needs.
