Wellbeing | Why the mental health of working parents & their children needs employer support

By Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development & Marketing at Generali UK Employee Benefits

It’s a sad indictment of modern life and childhood that a third of employees worry about their children’s mental health while at work¹. This is not only an issue for children and their parents, it also has a knock-on effect on employers too. Presenteeism is ever rising. Four-fifths (83%) of employers said in response to a recent CIPD survey² that they’d observed presenteeism in their organisation. And a quarter (25%) said the problem had got worse since the previous year. So how can employers help empower working parents to be in a better place to support both themselves and their children?

The good news for some employers is that they probably have a degree of relevant support already in place via their various health and group risk insurances. The bad news is they’re probably not utilising these benefits to full effect. More on that later.

Right now, let’s delve a bit deeper into why this demands employer attention.