When Andrea MacDonald begins working from home each morning, keeping her daughters busy is rarely a worry.

Grace, 9, and Rose, 5, have spent the last two months being read Dr. Seuss books by Twitter Inc. founder Jack Dorsey and learning about literary terms through the Harry Potter series.

Both are part of Camp Twitter, a virtual program the company runs for children of its employees, which Twitter CanadaB次元官网网址檚 tech, telecommunications, media and entertainment lead says has been B次元官网网址渁 gift.B次元官网网址�

The offering is one of several dreamed up by companies to help Canadian employees juggle their professional and parenting duties, while working from home and having limited camps, daycare, school or child care options to lean on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., North American staff have access to a virtual summer program for kids, are being encouraged to take their lunch so they can spend time with their family and are seeing their number of personal days doubled to 10. They can also tune into webinars with psychologists who can answer questions about parenting and family-oriented sessions where guests like NHL star Max Domi talk about overcoming challenges.

Meanwhile, Canadian workers at Microsoft are eligible for 12 weeks off under the companyB次元官网网址檚 new Paid Pandemic School and child care Closure Leave program.

Other companies have subsidized child care costs and been flexible with time off for parents on kid duty.

Experts say such child care solutions are key to keeping women in the workforce because they statistically shoulder most of the responsibilities associated with raising children.

The pandemic has exaggerated that trend. Statistics CanadaB次元官网网址檚 latest labour force survey showed that mothers with children under 18 were more likely than fathers to work less than half their usual hours in June.

The unemployment rate hit 12.7 per cent for women, compared with 12.1 per cent for men, and the underutilization rate B次元官网网址� which counts those who are unemployed, those who arenB次元官网网址檛 actively seeking work and those working less than half their usual hours B次元官网网址� was 28.3 for women and 25.5 per cent for men.

B次元官网网址淲ho is going to be the one who takes time off if the school has to shut down because thereB次元官网网址檚 been an outbreak?,B次元官网网址� asked said Jennifer Hargreaves, who runs Tellent, an organization that helps professional women find flexible work opportunities. B次元官网网址淲hoB次元官网网址檚 going to be the one to finish their days at 3:30 p.m. to pick up the children if we donB次元官网网址檛 have after-class music or swimming lessons after school anymore?

B次元官网网址淭ypically, it will be the primary caregiver, the person with a more flexible job or the person with the lower income. We know from the gender pay gap that tends to be women.B次元官网网址�

Women may leave their jobs if companies donB次元官网网址檛 address child care, she says B次元官网网址� and the longer mothers are away from the workforce, the harder it is for them to later return.

A July study from the Royal Bank of Canada revealed that the pandemic has pushed womenB次元官网网址檚 participation in the labour force down to its lowest level in three decades.

About 1.5 million Canadian women lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic and RBC says women accounted for about 45 per cent of the decline in hours worked over the downturn, but will only make up 35 per cent of the recovery.

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How fast womenB次元官网网址檚 employment rebounds depends a lot on the reopening of schools and access to child care.

So far many businesses have been tolerant about kids popping up on Zoom or allowing parents to modify hours their hours to be more available to their children, or take impromptu breaks to tend to temper tantrums.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of employers will say B次元官网网址榙o what you need to do,B次元官网网址� but parents wonB次元官网网址檛 take them up on it because they feel guilty or they donB次元官网网址檛 have the time to even think of it,B次元官网网址� said MacDonald.

The beauty of Camp Twitter, she said, is that it goes beyond simply being lenient or otherwise relying on the discretion of individual managers.

Their kids stay entertained all day with live educational classes and virtual sessions filled with activities like cooking, yoga and music. And parents have access to webinars from psychologists and health experts.

At the MacDonaldB次元官网网址檚, Rose gets one-on-one sessions with a teacher helping her learn to read and Grace can mix her love of the wizarding world with lessons on storytelling concepts like setting and character development.

B次元官网网址淗arry Potter class was really really fun,B次元官网网址� said Grace. B次元官网网址淲e talked about the books and at the end of the class, we did quizzes on what we learned.B次元官网网址�

Meanwhile at Slack Technologies Inc., a San Francisco-based software company that was founded in Vancouver, caregivers have been offered unlimited time off and Canadian staff can receive child care credits.

Parents and soon-to-be-parents also receive six free virtual sessions through a parenting app and are now being offered the chance to work from home permanently.

Slack is trying to remove the expectation that work necessarily happens between 9 and 5, said Robby Kwok, the companyB次元官网网址檚 senior vice-president of people.

B次元官网网址淲e believe that successfully adapting to remote work is about much more than the tools and technology our employees work on B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 really about the culture and norms they work with.B次元官网网址�

TellentB次元官网网址檚 Hargreaves agrees.

She works from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. on weekdays and all day on Saturdays. While sheB次元官网网址檚 working, her husband takes over the child care responsibilities, which she handles from 8 a.m. and onward most days.

In the past, she tried to parent and complete work simultaneously and said itB次元官网网址檚 a B次元官网网址渞ecipe for disasterB次元官网网址� unless you block separate time for each duty and have a boss that supports your family needs.

B次元官网网址淚f you can create a culture where thatB次元官网网址檚 acceptable, where your employees can do that and they can feel trusted to get the work done, thatB次元官网网址檚 where employees are really going to thrive.B次元官网网址�

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

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