In honor of World Health Day on Monday, April 7, help create hopeful futures for children and their families with comprehensive support for parents’ and caregivers’ wellbeing.
What we nurture today determines what will flourish tomorrow.
In life, every choice, every action, every decision that we make today shapes the future we step into tomorrow. Nowhere is this more evident than for parents, who each day lay the foundation for the lives their children will inherit.
Parental wellbeing forms the bedrock of child wellbeing. Healthy parents are what forge thriving families and communities, ensuring brighter, hopeful futures for us all. This is exactly the message the World Health Organization hopes to convey with this year’s World Health Day theme, “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures.” Recognizing the integral role maternal health plays in fostering vibrant, prosperous communities, this year’s campaign calls on governments and healthcare providers to accelerate efforts to deliver high-quality care for women and families everywhere.
Because the truth is, they need it. Growing research highlights the mounting challenges parents face in balancing work, family, and personal responsibilities in an increasingly volatile world. Findings from a recent survey by Care.com, for instance, reveal the devastating health effects nine in 10 parents experience due to the difficulty of securing reliable childcare, including loss of sleep, feelings of dread, and even thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Meanwhile, an advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General sheds light on the ‘debilitating’ stress endured by almost half of parents on a near-daily basis—twice the rate of their childless peers—amidst the compounding pressures of managing their jobs, finances, and families, and their own as well as their child’s wellbeing.
These findings are troubling, as research underscores the damaging impact parental stress and poor mental health can have on a child’s wellbeing and development. In a study from the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, for example, researchers found that parents and caregivers with “poor” mental health are nearly four times more likely to have a child with severe behavioral or neurodevelopmental issues. Likewise, a study published by the Oxford University Press found that children of depressed parents are 15 times more likely to experience an affective episode themselves compared to children whose parents are in good mental health. This creates a cycle of poor mental health for both parents and their children, wherein parents’ mental health directly impacts their children, whose wellbeing, in turn, affects their parents—perpetuating the cycle for generations to come.
All this underscores the urgent need to provide comprehensive support for children, parents, and families in 2025. This is about more than just improving healthcare or policy support; employers, too, have a vital role to play in minimizing the stress parents face on a daily basis and helping to create better and brighter futures for all.
Supporting Families: The Missing Link in Workplace Wellbeing
When parents have the support they need to thrive at work, this wellbeing ultimately extends into every area of their lives—from their home and family lives to their social and inner lives as well. Parents who feel able to grow and reach their full potential are subsequently better equipped to meet the demands of raising a child and help their children grow into strong, capable, and resilient adults in kind.
Not only is a greater emphasis on parental wellbeing helpful for parents, but it’s also beneficial to employers. Comprising nearly half of the global workforce—and up to 80 percent for countries like the United States—working parents represent a core demographic that must be adequately accommodated in the workplace in order to foster resilient, innovative teams and drive lasting success. When working parents struggle with their health and wellbeing, employers risk losing billions of dollars a year due to higher turnover, absenteeism, and healthcare costs, as well as reduced performance, productivity, and morale. By helping parents balance the competing demands of work and family, on the other hand, employers can reap the benefits of a more engaged, innovative, and creative workforce.
Yet, research shows that barely a quarter of working parents feel satisfied with the support they receive for their own and their children’s wellbeing, as:
- Half of working parents report declines in their mental health and wellbeing due to unaccommodating work environments
- Seven in 10 feel ‘consumed’ by financial stress, driven by lost worktime, high out-of-pocket childcare costs, and limited financial literacy resources
- Nearly two-thirds lack access to employer-sponsored referrals or consultations for childcare, financial assistance, and other essential services
The result: Roughly two-thirds of working parents report feeling burned out—cutting into their productivity, performance, and engagement at work.
When parents are left to worry about their children’s mental and emotional wellbeing, 70 percent say this impairs their ability to cope with the demands of their job. More than half end up missing work at least once a month to address their child’s mental health concerns, while one in three feels pressured to change jobs or leave the workforce altogether. Meanwhile, inadequate support for their own wellbeing has driven nearly two-thirds of working parents to consider leaving their jobs, as they struggle to cope with stress and exhaustion of balancing work and family life alone.
The solution is simple: By investing in comprehensive support for working parents and their children, employers can help families access the care they need to maintain their wellbeing and face life’s challenges with confidence. In return, employers are awarded with a more engaged, resilient workforce—one resolved to invest their full selves into their work, face emerging challenges head-on, and contribute to the organization’s overall success.
Enhancing Parent, Caregiver, and Child Wellbeing: How Workplace Options Can Help
Through its extensive scope of services, Workplace Options (WPO) is uniquely positioned to help employers deliver satisfactory care to parents and caregivers and drive long-term wellbeing. Pairing emotional support with practical assistance, flexible delivery options, and an array of complementary resources, WPO ensures parents, caregivers, and their families receive the right support when and where they need it most.
Featured services include:
The Child and Family Wellbeing program offers a robust, multi-layered approach to helping parents and caregivers manage their family’s health amidst the demands of their professional lives. Comprising counseling, coaching, and case management, the program connects parents with experienced specialists who provide direct support and informed referrals on pivotal issues related to child development and wellbeing, such as:
- Accessing child-specific counseling support
- Helping children with anxiety and depression
- Locating specialists for behavioral special needs
- Boosting children’s academic and social confidence
- Supporting children through divorce
Available to families with children aged three and older, the program is strategically divided into three key components to ensure seamless navigation, timely intervention, and measurable results, including:
- A Specialized Pediatric Assessment
- Short-term Counseling for Individuals and Families
- Dedicated Care Coach Support
New findings demonstrate the rising youth mental health crisis happening worldwide, as:
- 22 percent of parents report that their child’s developmental or mental health issues from the pandemic persist
With the WPO Child and Family Wellbeing Program, families receive the tools, insights, and resources they need to confidently navigate day-to-day challenges, promote their child’s holistic wellbeing, and boost their resilience.
Amidst the excitement and joy of becoming a parent, it can be difficult to anticipate or prepare for the challenges that may arise in the early months of parenthood and the transition back to work. WPO’s New Parent Return to Work program supports parents, caregivers, and their managers with dedicated practical assistance to ensure a smooth reintegration and facilitate parents’ long-term success and wellbeing.
Through the program, coaches work closely with parents and caregivers to help them navigate key challenges related to returning to work, including:
- Time management strategies
- Parental guilt about returning to work
- Fatigue and imposter syndrome
Parents and their managers also receive actionable guidance on how to develop effective, mutually beneficial transition plans to ensure a smooth exit and re-entry into the workplace.
Findings reveal a clear need for dedicated reintegration support for parents, as:
- 31 percent report inadequate managerial support throughout their leave and return to work
- 25 percent suffer ongoing mental health issues following their return to work
With New Parent Return to Work, families receive the guidance they need to ease the stress of returning to work, balance new family responsibilities with their professional obligations, and confidently settle into their new routines.
Roughly one in four new mothers experience mental health issues in the first year after giving birth—yet few receive help. Research shows that half of women diagnosed with perinatal depression—and up to three-quarters of new moms with any mental health symptoms—fail to receive treatment. Even so, 40 percent of working parents are now seeking counseling to cope with stress, manage formal diagnoses, and address their mental health symptoms.
To meet this demand, employers may consider investing in Workplace Options’ emotional support solutions, which offer a range of care from short-term counseling to extended clinical intervention for employees formally diagnosed with depression or anxiety. With Aware, WPO’s corporate mindfulness program, parents may also receive dedicated training on how to effectively cope with work or caregiving stress, improve their focus and concentration at work, and live in the present moment.
Studies indicate that up to seven in 10 parents hide or downplay their symptoms when dealing with mental distress—leading to long-term consequences for both their own and their children’s wellbeing. By providing access to counseling support at a crucial moment, employers can empower parents to tackle mental health symptoms before they lead to chronic issues, allowing them to better care for themselves and their children’s health and wellbeing.
With two-thirds of working parents affected by burnout, the need for dedicated burnout support couldn’t be clearer. With Revive, employees receive comprehensive emotional health support specifically designed to assist with burnout recovery and promote effective work-life integration.
46 percent of parents say they want access to programs that reduce burnout and improve wellbeing. Revive offers just that. Led by a team of mental health counselors, life coaches, and work-life consultants, the program delivers weekly care to help employees address work-life balance issues and focus on develop skills crucial for long-term success, including:
- Self-care and relaxation strategies
- Building a support system
With Revive, employers can help working parents overcome burnout, build resilience, and foster a healthier, more balanced work-life experience—allowing them to excel in their roles as both parents and employees.
While childrearing no doubt exacts a heavy emotional toll on parents and caregivers, even the practical aspects of raising a child can cause tremendous mental distress. Whether it’s the financial stress of navigating childcare costs, the difficulty of locating appropriate resources for children’s mental, behavioral, developmental, or academic problems, or the constant stress of having to secure back-up childcare, all this can lead to feelings of overwhelm and burnout.
With WPO’s practical support solutions, offering assistance related to child and dependent care, daily living information, financial support, and more, parents and caregivers can receive the expert guidance they need to navigate these challenges with ease and get back to spending quality, undisrupted time with their families.
It is often said that parenting doesn’t come with an instruction manual—but fortunately, there are still plenty of educational resources parents can take advantage of to improve their parenting experience. Through WPO’s extensive catalogue of global learning solutions focused on personal, parental, and financial wellbeing, parents can receive expert guidance on how to effectively care for themselves while caring for others, with access to trainings on topics such as:
- Overcoming parental and caregiver guilt
- Parenting in the digital world
- Supporting children’s mental health
- Raising resilient children
- Financially smart parenting
Parental challenges can often feel isolating, as many parents fail to appreciate the difficulties that come with parenthood, distracted by its many rewards. This leads many parents to wrongly assume that the problem lies with them, causing many to remain silent out of fear of judgment or ridicule—prolonging their distress and creating further issues down the road. Having these challenges openly discussed within dedicated learning environments can help normalize parents’ experiences and allow them to cultivate the resilience needed to confront challenges with confidence and enhance their overall wellbeing.
Workplace Wellbeing Starts with Parents’ Wellbeing
The future of work starts with creating safe and nurturing environments where future generations of workers can thrive and realize their full potential. When parents and caregivers receive the support they need to manage their own wellbeing, they are better equipped to aid their child’s ongoing growth and development, shaping brighter futures for all.
Ultimately, investing in the wellbeing of parents and caregivers not only enriches their success in the workforce today, but also paves the way for the next generation of thinkers, innovators, and change-makers—thus creating a cycle of thriving families and organizations that will last for years to come.
To find out more about how WPO is helping shape healthy, brighter futures for families and organizations alike, visit www.workplaceoptions.com or contact us today at https://www.workplaceoptions.com/contact-us/.
