Dr Eliza Filby's Newsletter

Dear readers,?

Into the autumn with a thump!

The rain is pouring and the kids are back in school. We've spent the summer in wilful ignorance with fingers in our ears not wanting to confront what the winter holds (at least I have anyway).?

I'm Dr Eliza Filby, a historian of generations who explores how society is changing through the prism of age.?

In this fortnightly newsletter you will find articles written by me as well as insights, links and news on generational shifts in the workplace, consumption and society at large.?

Helping you feel out of touch and up-to-date in equal measure!?

In this week's edition:?

- Exclusive Article:?Isn't it time companies provided support with childcare?

- Is Gen Z finished with?hook up culture??

- How Tomorrow's World predicted the future of work back in the eighties

- How Wall Street is trying to curb WorkTok

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it time that Companies took Greater Responsibility for Childcare??

?Forget breakfast bars, gym membership and even flexible working, if companies really want to get their millennial employees back into the office?and earn their loyalty?then why not support them with the burden of childcare? Sounds simple. Or is it??

The pandemic made us?reappraise?a lot of things in life, but ask any parent and they will probably say they have a renewed appreciation for childcare.

As we parents were swamped under the impossible burden of having to entertained or home school?our children while working, we came to realise just how fundamental childcare?is,?not just for our child’s development or a mother's career prospects,?but more specifically in enabling our dual income households to actually function and stay sane.?

We?recognised it, but did our?employers??

For the last ten years the UK has had one of the most expensive and unworkable childcare systems in the world, where in some urban areas we’ve come not to question the absurd practise,?previously reserved for the very top private schools, of putting a baby’s name down on a nursery waiting list even before the little bundle of joy arrives.?And that is before parents are hit with the reality and cost.

Despite the free-childcare hours offered?by government,?two thirds?of parents pay as much each month towards their childcare as their rent or mortgage according to a survey conducted by parenting website Mumsnet and campaign group Pregnant then Screwed. Single-parent families are particularly hit as are those on universal credit where the childcare stipend is still calculated on 2005?costings. This isn’t news to parents but may come as a shock to bosses who tend to think that their responsibility of paying wages each month is to keep a roof over their employees' head, when for many the major outlay goes on the care infrastructure that frees up people’s time to work.?

This has long been the situation, but now childcare is at a critical juncture. Recent data from the Labour Party revealed that the average bill of a nursery place has risen by 16% between 2018-2022.?Two thirds?of parents have seen an increase in childcare costs just this year and this is likely to rise in the autumn as nurseries are confronted with inflated energy and food prices as well as staff shortages, and as existing Local Authority funding reduces in real?terms.

Nurseries have little option but to pass this burden onto parents, especially given that?a third?of UK nurseries are already operating at a loss. Some are now charging ￡95 per day,?or ￡1900 per month for one child to attend five days a week.

The problem is so acute that 43% of parents are considering leaving their jobs or working fewer hours due to childcare costs. In the US, the situation is similar, if not worse. More than 30% of families are considering taking a second job to manage the juggle. As we know though, the pandemic forced many women to quit the workforce altogether.

The number of women not in the labour market and looking after a family has risen by 5% in the past year, the biggest leap in 30 years. This is a consequence of the pandemic which will have worrying ramifications for the economy as well as households. In the US, 26% of women are out of work due to childcare costs and those women more likely to quit or reduce their hours are ethnic minorities and those on low wages; precisely those who should be supported.?

I’ve spent the past two years helping companies navigate the post-pandemic work landscape and the most common thing I hear from CEOs and executives?is that the?Great Resignation, war for talent and ‘quiet quitting’ of their Gen Z recruits?constitute their major business concerns?right now.

But how many are considering the childcare crisis and its impact on their middle aged millennial staff? These are the workers you’ve trained up and invested in. They are too expensive to lose.?

Perhaps the reason for this oversight is the way in which society, government and business holds on to a?now outdated?view that childcare is predominantly a women’s issue, one that?enables?mothers to work. This is not how the majority of couples now see it or actually live.

In an era where two-thirds of millennial couples are in two-wage families, when the cost of living crisis makes this a fixed necessity and where wage parity between couples has never been closer, it is recognised within the home at least that childcare is something that enables families to?function, not?just mothers to work. This again may feel alien to the CEO who perhaps has a stay at home wife or a full time nanny.??

But the time has come for business leaders to recognise that?childcare, like other key areas such as health and pensions, is not the sole responsibility of employees but a fundamental business issue that impacts the bottom line and talent pipeline (as well as the gender pay gap). It shouldn’t be framed as a ‘nice to have’ perk but rather, in the context of an economic crisis, critical support in ensuring that a key part of their?workforce is able to actually turn up.

And for those who say childcare is a?matter for government not businesses,?it is worth harking back to the great entrepreneurial titans of the Victorian era for inspiration, those who built chapels, schools, housing,?and?entire towns not simply out of philanthropy and care but because they realised it made shrewd business sense.

We could all look longingly at the favourable situation in Scandinavia - where in places like Denmark the average monthly payment is 9% of parental income - but that is not the reality across much of the developed world. Ireland, Australia, Switzerland are just some of the countries where parents are spending above 20% of their wages on childcare.?

Thankfully there are some companies that are leading the way. In the US, Californian progressive beacon Patagonia has established three childcare centres for its staff at a cost of over a million pounds to the company. Positively, this has resulted in almost all working mothers returning to work after maternity leave and most tellingly, it has had?a profound?impact on parents as a whole who are now 25% less likely to leave than child-free employees. By Patagonia’s own calculations, the savings in staff retention offsets 30% of the actual outlay in running the nurseries.

Understandably, not all companies are willing to take on such a burden, instead a number are choosing to offer subsidised nursery places or reimbursements on childcare to parents.?Bank?of America for example provides $240 monthly stipend as well as immediate access to a doctor and prescriptions.?

?One of the major providers helping companies with these initiatives is Bright Horizons whose corporate packages range from running on-site nurseries (such as that at Jaguar Land Rover Solihull site established in 2012) to childcare slots for employees or back up childcare support in emergencies. They have just launched their personalised parental plan and over the course of 2020-21 established 23 employer-sponsored nurseries. These though are isolated examples; only 11% of employers in the UK currently provide childcare?packages?as an employee benefit.?

And yet the advantages are obvious. It is an easy way of getting a millennial parents back into the office. It is also a decent short-term incentive for retention: you’d be less likely to change jobs if it also meant your child having to change nursery. It’s also what employees want. In a 2021 survey of UK and US workers, Beamery found that care benefits were favoured over gym memberships, mental wellbeing support and even paid parental leave.?

In the time of the Great Resignation and the biggest squeeze on incomes since the 1950s, making it easier for parents to work should not just be a business priority?or a?DEI initiative but an economic necessity. And governments should play a role too. Forget tinkering with Corporation Tax, why not offer tax breaks to companies?who provide childcare i.e.?help them help?their employees?

Support?could also be given to the self-employed or company directors by enabling them to offset childcare costs against their tax bill. Why don't we?recalibrate childcare not as a family cost but a business expense?

Company-childcare schemes are a clear demonstration that you respect the care responsibilities and financial burdens of a key section of your workforce. Back in 1950s, companies made explicit efforts to satisfy the spouse to retain the husband. In 2022, it may be wise to start satisfying the child to retain the parents.?

Things to Read:

1.?Corporate take down of TikTok? ?Wall Street firms discourage Gen Z'ers from showcasing their working life on the social media site for security and PR reasons. But trying to control the message is futile....?

2. Death to hook up culture??Are Gen Z looking for more meaningful connections post-Covid??Seems so, according to this survey from Hinge.

3.??Read the responses to Chris Heard's question : What’s the most interesting second order effect of remote work you can imagine happening? My favourite:?the concept of hybrid retirement. Speaking of predictions, see?Tomorrow's World from the 1980s on the future of the office.? ?Remarkable.?

4.??Self-optimisation is post-optimum ?- best reddit thread ever.

People to Follow....?

Paul Fairie? ?who takes clips from old newspapers to prove that certain moral panics?(from fears about?technology to youth culture) are as old as time. See?history of 'British Workers are Lazy' ?(1899-2022).?

Feast for the Senses....

1.READING: There's a solid but reductionist historic argument that everything in the end comes down to demographics and natural resources. This book by demographer Paul Morland proves it:?Tomorrow's People: The Future of Humanity in Ten Numbers ??

2.?LISTENING:? Mark Zuckerberg on The Joe Rogan Experience ?-?worth a listen if only to realise how little Zuckerburg understands the world he has so much control over.?

3.?WATCHING: Marriage (on UK BBC iplayer ). The best thing I have seen on TV since I May Destroy You. It's the very opposite of Amazon's Lord of the Rings (the most expensive TV show ever made). This type of content should be the BBC's approach when it comes to competing with the major streamers (who are fast-running out of cash).?

4.?VISITING:?This autumn I am visiting Melbourne, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Helsinki, Paris and Lisbon talking about the future of work, inheritance and consumption, helping and learning from the best companies in the world.?

and FINALLY,?