National Working Parents Day: 4 Tips for School Year Success

Quick look: Back-to-school season is in full swing, with the leaves beginning to change and school buses back on the streets. For many working parents, balancing professional responsibilities alongside school commitments can be tricky. However, employers can ease the burden with flexible policies and a comprehensive benefits package. To honor National Working Parents Day, here are four ways businesses can support their employees throughout the school year and how a professional employer organization (PEO) can help.

School is back in session, and working parents may face new challenges as their children return to the classroom and family routines shift. From earlier mornings and after-school activities to parent-teacher conferences and unexpected sick days, these responsibilities can quickly add stress to an already demanding schedule. Without the right resources, employees may struggle to stay fully engaged at work.

But this season also presents a valuable opportunity for employers to show their support. With National Working Parents Day on September 16, here’s how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can support working mothers, fathers, and caregivers, and ultimately encourage a healthier work-life balance and elevated retention rates.

National Working Parents Day: What it’s all about

National Working Parents Day occurs each year on September 16 and aims to highlight the challenges working parents face and show appreciation for their efforts. While the holiday’s origin is unknown, it’s a worthwhile cause for employers to celebrate, considering two-thirds of families with children have two working parents.

A personal and professional balancing act

As the school year begins, children’s academic and extracurricular activities frequently overlap with their parents’ work demands, prompting many working parents to find effective ways to manage both family commitments and professional responsibilities.

Many schooldays end between 3 and 4 p.m., meaning working parents may need to arrange after-school care. Additionally, school holidays and breaks don’t always align with a working parent’s available time off, and illnesses, doctor appointments, inclement weather, and other unexpected school closings can further disrupt their schedules.

All this juggling can take a toll. For instance, an Ohio State University survey found that 57% of working parents experience burnout, primarily due to pressure surrounding parenting performance, perceived judgment from others, spousal dynamics, and household maintenance.

Note: Workplace flexibility and competitive employee benefits should be fair and equitable across all employees, and mental health issues like burnout can impact all workers. We do not wish to erase those experiences or realities by focusing exclusively on working parents.

How employers can support working parents: 4 key tips

Working parents are a large portion of the workforce, and supporting them is key to successful retention and recruitment. Here are four ways employers can better engage and retain this important group of employees:

1. Offer flexibility

Caring for school-aged children can involve picking them up from the bus stop, shuttling them to extracurricular activities, taking them to doctors’ appointments, and more. A flexible schedule not only helps employees navigate their day more smoothly, but may even benefit a company’s bottom line. According to research from the University of Birmingham, 73% of managers believe flexible working hours improve productivity.

Flexibility looks different for every business, depending on your organization and team needs:

• Flextime: Employees can choose their working hours or adjust schedules weekly to accommodate personal needs.
• Compressed workweeks: Instead of working a standard five-day workweek, employees can contribute their 40 hours in fewer than five days per week (for example, working four 10-hour days).
• Part-time schedules: Offering less than 40 hours of work per week or part-time work can attract working parents who may otherwise not have wanted to or been able to work at all.
• Job sharing: Two employees split the responsibilities of one full-time role, each working part-time hours while collectively maintaining full coverage.

These arrangements may not be feasible for all businesses or industries, depending on operational requirements and staffing needs. It’s also important to note that these flexible options should extend to any employee who needs reasonable accommodations or those who may need to take a parent, spouse, or themselves to the doctor, and those working in different time zones.

2. Provide relevant benefits for working parents

Raising children requires a significant investment of both time and money. The average cost of raising a child to age 18 tops $320,000 (not including college expenses). Additionally, on top of working, parents dedicate up to two-and-a-half hours each day caring for their children.

This is where a family-friendly employee benefits package can make a significant difference. Relevant plans and policies include:

• Comprehensive, cost-effective healthcare: Children require regular checkups and tend to get sick often, making high-quality coverage a must. Employers can also enhance support with a flexible spending account (FSA), which may cover eligible before- and after-school care, summer camp expenses, and more.
• Progressive paid time off (PTO): PTO is essential for all employees to recharge, care for children, and tend to personal needs. SMBs may also provide school activity time off, allowing staff to participate in parent-teacher conferences, holiday events, classroom activities, graduations, and more, without sacrificing pay or vacation days.
• Mental health support: Offering mental health coverage and access to an employee assistance program (EAP) can bring a sense of relief to working parents.
• College financial planning: Employers can help workers establish 529 college savings plans for their children, which allow for federal and state tax breaks, age-based plan options, prepaid tuition, and more.
• Paid parental leave: For working parents looking to expand their families, paid parental leave can benefit maternal and infant health and more. However, as of September 2025, only 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia publicly fund it, causing many employees to count on their companies to provide it.

3. Encourage manager-level support

Often, the most meaningful encouragement comes from colleagues we interact with daily. SMB leaders can encourage managers to show genuine, appropriate interest in their team members’ lives outside of work. Even a simple question about an employee’s child can create a sense of comfort and connection.

This thoughtfulness can have a significant impact: employees with a high level of manager support are nearly 60% less likely to experience burnout.

Leaders can also set the tone by modeling balance themselves, such as keeping family photos on their desk and occasionally leaving the office early for a child’s activity sends a message of camaraderie.

Additionally, managers can reduce unnecessary stress by clarifying the urgency of after-hours communications. Labeling emails with notes like  “not urgent,” “for Monday,” or “FYI,” etc. allows staff can to quickly distinguish between urgent requests and tasks that can wait until working hours.

4. Consider all stages of parenthood

While back-to-school season highlights the needs of school-aged children, employers can support working parents through every stage of parenthood.

It’s important for business leaders to recognize that families are diverse, and working parents may be any gender, biological or adoptive parents, part of a same-sex couple, or raising children on their own.

While some new mothers returning to work may require a lactation room (which is mandated by the Affordable Care Act and can boost return-from-leave retention rates), other staff may be seeking to grow their family. In that instance, employers could offer family-building benefits, including:

• Access to benefits experts, fertility clinicians, emotional counselors, lawyers, and a dedicated care manager
• Discounted rates at specific fertility clinics and adoption and surrogacy agencies
• Personalized care plans and resources for every stage of growing a family
• Prescription ordering and at-home delivery

ExtensisHR: Your partner for supporting your people

As the new school year begins, it’s an ideal time to reassess how your organization supports working parents.

A professional employer organization (PEO) like ExtensisHR can help you access the benefits and policies that strengthen company culture and increase retention. PEOs open the door to a variety of Fortune 500-level benefits designed to improve employees’ work-life balance, such as healthcare coverage, access to mental wellness tools, and more.

Additionally, ExtensisHR’s dedicated HR Business Partners keep you compliant with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and help you design fair and equitable policies for maternity and paternity leave, PTO, and more.

Supporting working parents builds stronger teams and better businesses. With ExtensisHR’s PEO solution, you can deliver the flexibility, benefits, and culture that set your organization apart.

Looking to create an A+ workplace? Discover how ExtensisHR’s PEO solution can give you a competitive edge, or contact us today to get started.