At Wildix, we specialise in remote work, but we also have many parents (and parents to be!) who have young children. How do we balance the needs of our children, remote work and keeping everything planned and organised?
It’s tricky, but we asked some of our parents how they cope!
Organisation
Organisation is critical to childcare. Yet so is being flexible (much like remote work!). Some days, your child will be the best and most adorable snugglebug on the planet … and other days, they’ll be the grumpiest thing to have ever walked the earth.
“When my child was younger, I depended heavily on naptime,” says Kat, part of our copy team. “Just after she woke up, she would often be distracted for a couple of hours, and I could easily work from home then. Now that she’s a bit more independent, it’s a little harder. For me, being flexible is crucial — I might sit on a bed and work on my laptop, as she’s happiest playing independently if we are in the same room, or I might change my lunchtime so that when she’s hungry, she’s not asking for food while I’m working.”
It’s that flexibility that managers should encourage wherever possible — in many cases, there’s no need to have fixed hours as long as the work is completed. Meetings may be occasionally be slightly disrupted by a small head appearing on a co-worker’s screen, but rarely is it critical to not have them nearby.
Distraction is also important. “Another trick I learned was that most streaming channels, such as Netflix or Disney+, have multilingual support,” says Kat. “If you want to encourage them to learn a new language, there are plenty of options to have media in that language. I also found it lulls them to sleep more easily.”
Graham Dixon, head of tech support in the UK had this to add: “With remote or hybrid work, you can save commuting time, manage emergency situations better and also spend more time with your children. To do that, though, you must prioritise and structure your work efficiently. The goal isn’t to work more hours but to get more work done in less time. I use tools that can help streamline tasks such as Trello, Jira and x-bees to collaborate and work efficiently. When deep work is required I activate DND on my mobile and laptop to remove any unnecessary notifications.”
For Graham, family time is essential: “When I’m at home, I make an effort to be truly present with my family. This doesn’t mean just being in the same room as my daughter whilst I’m checking emails or making calls. It means focusing on them entirely and trying to put aside work thoughts and concerns (as hard as that is). This is not only good for my family, but it’s also a vital part of self-care, helping to establish a real separation between work and home life and reducing burnout.”
Additional Support
Nursery, many agree, is highly important for many young children and their parents — especially in areas where movement away from wider families is very common. Around 83.4% of children aged between 3 and compulsory school age in the EU get some formal childcare, but that number drops to 64.7% in the United States. It varies wildly across the EU, with only a small percentage of children in Romania going to a formal nursery but nearly all children in the Netherlands attending some sort of pre-K facility.
“One of the biggest benefits for me,” says Santhia, our UK Marketing Assistant, “is regular nursery days. I know it’s not for everyone, mainly because of the cost or local availability, but it gives children a structure, and it helps them socialise as well. It’s that chance for interactivity, and it means that you can have several days where you can simply focus on work matters.”
“For me,” continues Santhia, “family support during the rest of the week has been vital. It lets me focus on my work, but it also gives my family time with my child. I can then be fresh for the weekend.”
Single Parents and Smart Working
On average, 15% of households across the EU are single-parent households, with Sweden having the highest percentage (34%) and Croatia having the lowest, at 5%. In the United States, that figure is 23%, substantially higher than the worldwide average of 7%. Worldwide, 90% of single parents are women.
For single parents, having the ability to balance childcare and work is crucial. As Natalie Stein, our International Administration Manager, says: “My son is always busy when I work. He goes to kindergarten now, but he also goes ice skating at school, allowing me to work full time. But it’s important I can be flexible. With Wildix, I can work from home, the office or anywhere I need to.”
It’s that flexibility that really helps with childcare and allows Natalie to focus on his needs. “I’ve had to teach him that I do work and that my time isn’t always available for him. I’ve created that slight separation between work and play. However, he has participated in our Wildix Partner Day — he was very helpful as far as a child can be! But once I’m away from work, we do a lot of things together. I spend as much free time with him as I can.”
Like the vast majority of parents, Natalie sets clear boundaries to ensure she raises her son in a way that suits his needs and interests. “Drawing is always a good activity, and he has regular homework from me — I encourage him to write and read in particular. I don’t rely on screens to keep him occupied; he doesn’t have any. Instead, we spend time crafting or making something together.”
I also am a single parent, and companies such as Wildix provide opportunities to really benefit from a good work-life balance. My child goes to nursery three times a week, and he spends time with friends or my mother the other two days I work. The important thing is to carve out time for him when he comes home — whether that’s simply time spent watching the TV, going to the park, eating lots of fruit straight from the small garden or riding his bike down near the river.
The same opportunities that allow single parents flexibility also benefit two-parent households when both parents work.
“Leonardo is now one, and when he was born, my priorities changed quickly and radically,” says Annalisa Toniatti, our Marketing Manager for Italy. “I’ve always looked for a job that would allow me to achieve a good balance between work and life as much as possible. At Wildix, I can take Leonardo to kindergarten in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon, without having to ask for time off, change working hours or delegate the task to another family member.”
For Annalisa, the most important aspect of smart working is this: “I use my time intelligently, without wasting it in useless activities such as morning traffic and above all I can follow my work rhythms and those of my child.”
Remote Working Opportunities Benefit Everyone
Our head of HR, Roberta Terranova, wrote this a few months ago: “We have to listen to what the market has to say, and it’s clear that geography isn’t that important if the candidate has the skills required to do the job. However, the company also has to make the effort to create that sense of belonging that’s required to help people feel engaged with their coworkers. Team-building is essential — but it needs to be carefully considered to ensure everyone can engage.”
Parents are essential to the workforce, and we carefully consider our policies to ensure everyone can benefit from them. Children are welcome in the offices, and staff can choose (in most cases) to either be fully remote, fully in-office or hybrid as needed. This helps us support parents and parents to be alike. That’s the Wildix way.
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