School’s Out: Supporting Working Parents Over the Holidays

Although it may seem premature to start looking ahead to the summer now, the school holidays roll around quickly, and many employees find themselves juggling the demands of work and childcare. For working parents, this can be one of the most stressful times of the year. For HR teams, it’s a crucial opportunity to step in with empathy, flexibility, and solutions that can ease the pressure for both parents and the business.

Supporting employees through this period helps maintain morale, reduce absenteeism, and strengthen your employer brand. Here’s how HR can make a meaningful impact when managing leave during school holidays and shutdown periods.

Offer Flexible Work Options

Flexibility is often the single most helpful benefit for working parents. Whether it’s remote work, adjusted hours, or compressed workweeks, allowing employees to fit their schedules around their family commitments can ease the pressure.

Some flexibility options to consider:

• Let teams agree on core hours ( for example, 10 am to 3 pm)
• Offer “flex days” during school breaks
• Encourage asynchronous work where possible

Communicate Leave Policies Clearly (and Early)

Don’t wait until the last minute. Encourage employees to submit leave requests well in advance, allowing you to manage and plan resources. HR should proactively communicate how leave will be approved and managed during peak or busy periods.

Pro tips:

• Share a holiday leave calendar or tracker
• Set deadlines for requests before busy school breaks
• Create a transparent approval process (for example, first-come-first-served or rotation systems)

Provide Resources for Childcare Support

While not every organisation can subsidise childcare, even low-cost support can go a long way. A resource guide, local partner discounts, or access to an employee assistance program (EAP) can be hugely helpful.

Ideas include:

• Sharing a curated list of local holiday programs or clubs
• Negotiating group rates with local childcare providers
• Offering a backup care benefit for emergency situations

Support Managers to Lead with Empathy

Managers play a key role in how employees feel supported. HR can help by equipping them with the right language and tools to handle conversations around leave, flexibility, and workload adjustments.

Tips for training managers:

• Normalise talking about family responsibilities
• Encourage planning ahead for coverage and handovers
• Remind them that trust and empathy improve performance, not hinder it

Promote a Culture of Understanding

Not everyone in the office may be a parent, but that doesn’t mean only caregivers should shoulder the burden or the support. Building a culture that values mutual respect and fairness is critical.

Encourage this by:

• Highlighting stories of how teams have collaborated during holiday periods
• Recognising the contributions of both those taking leave and those covering
• Reinforcing the message that everyone deserves rest and flexibility

How can oneHR help?

Supporting working parents through the holidays isn’t just a benefit; it’s a reflection of how much an organisation truly values its people.

oneHR’s Holiday Manager allows for leave to be managed fairly and with transparency. oneHR also provides employers with a platform to share key policies and messages across the organisation, ensuring that you can keep employees in the know when it comes to leave policies and procedures.

Contact the oneHR team today to learn more about how we can help:

Email: contact@onehrsoftware.com

Find us on Instagram: @oneHR_