Are you committed to making your workplace inclusive for parents and carers?

Toolkit: Intro to Intersectional Caring offers an introduction to some of the supportive ways you can manage a team with members who have caring responsibilities and face other challenges due to disability, neurodivergence, ethnicity, and/or their socio-economic background. Many of the suggestions are beneficial to all workers and participants. It’s important for organisations to consider the wider benefits of inclusivity. Our research tells us that:

  • 76% of participants in the 2016 PiPA Best Practice Survey reported regular last-minute changes to scheduling.
  • Eight out of ten participants in our Backstage Workforce Report reported less than 12 hours’ notice for schedule changes, and nearly half experienced a change of call times with less than six hours’ notice.
  • Projects and workplaces managed in this way risk a talent drain: 76% of caregivers regularly turn down work (85% of freelancers)  
  • 4 out of 10 parents and carers are thinking of leaving their arts careers due to challenging working practices  
  • Self-employed women in the arts, over 85% of whom have caring responsibilities, including mothers, reported a pay penalty of £8,000 

We know it doesn’t have to be this way.

Using practical tools like an Access Rider you can improve inclusion at your organisation.

An Access Rider template provides an opportunity for anyone working for an organisation, to communicate their access requirements in a clear and timely manner. Topics include caring responsibilities, travel and communication. 

As part of the Toolkit: Intro to Intersectional Caring we have developed:

  • FAQs about Caring Responsibilities: With many parents and carers self-selecting out of opportunities because they do not know if the organisation will be supportive of their caring responsibilities, this guide prompts the effective communication of what support is already in place or can be put in place.
  • A Building Audit support document: Whether it is for your own building of for those that you might tour to, having a compressive list of consideration to make before use, can ensure it is suitable for parents, carers, and their responsibilities.
  • 5 Top Tips from Parents and Carers on Scheduling: Schedules and scheduling present challenges for parents and carers, and often for organisations later down the line if not approached correctly. This resource gives 5 guiding principles that should be incorporated into the creation and management of all schedules to support parents and carers, and the organisation’s ability to plan ahead.
  • An Inclusive Recruitment Checklist: A step by step guide for organisations to review how they approach recruitment an ensure the inclusion of parents and carers within it.
  • A Family Friendly Welcome Pack for new employees: Creating a central location for all information related to family friendly policies and practices can make sure parents and carers get the support they need when they need it, and so that it can be effectively manage by the organisation. This is a guide to creating such a pack.
  • Quick facts for employers of parents: Impact of Last Minute Changes: a research driven resource which raises awareness on the actuality of seemingly straightforward requests made of parents and carers, such as ‘Can you work an extra 10 minutes’ or ‘Can somebody else pick them up?

Are you a parent or carer?

These resources are intended to support parents and carers with the vocabulary and resources to have the conversations they need, to bring their full selves into the workplace and receive appropriate support. For example, a freelancer going into a new organisation might find arriving with their own Access Rider completed, a positive start to ensure the correct information is relayed at the start of a project. These resources will be freely available soon. Please check back in May 2023 or sign up to our newsletter for further updates.

Do you work within an organisation?

These resources can be downloaded and adapted to suit your organisation or to raise awareness and inform decisions within projects and productions. The Access Rider is freely available above for you to integrate into your working practice. To find out more about how to access additonal resources and the ways in which PiPA can support you, email Anna anna@pipacampaign.com.