Summer holiday nightmare - lend a hand

As we come to the back end of August, there will be a huge amount of parents all across the country watching the calendar. The end of the nightmare school holiday is almost over.

Most parents love to spend time with their little ones, the problem is they have to work. With limited holiday, it soon becomes a costly, stressful time of the year. Not only does the price of holidays double during a school holiday, but child care is hugely expensive. Research shows that it now costs £123.49 per week to have your little treasure looked after. Rising 7.8% in the last year alone.



So employees need their bosses to try and help a little. We are not talking huge cost, just a bit of thought. Trying to find information can be quite disjointed for parents. So having some places where the information is in one place can be useful.

Of course, we live in a world of employee rights. Did you know that an employee that has worked for you for over a year can ask for unpaid leave? Naturally, it has to fit in with the company's needs, but as long as they give you 21 days notice, it could be a real help for them.

Where and when people work has changed hugely over the years. Flexible working might just make your employees life so much easier, thus making them more productive. Flexible working doesn't just involve the hours but also location. Enabling someone to work from home can really pay dividends for a company. It keeps their employee productive and removes all those stresses. It is really cheap now to make it easy for someone to work from home. Setting up remote emails, using dropbox and office online, all means they can work from anywhere. If they are working from home, schedule in regular calls and emails, so the employee still feels part of the team


By helping out your team in the difficult summer break, you will show you are a caring employee, and their efforts are valued by you. It doesn;t need to cost thousands, it just needs a bit of planning and thought. It is also great to show people that they should work for you too.