Pivoting into the Virtual Space

Tuesday March 17th – 8:57am, I received a call from one of our corporate partners that they will be cancelling their upcoming program for April. By 5pm, 80% of April programs had been cancelled.
Being a workplace initiative that operates onsite we were faced with two options for KidsCo:

Option 1 – shut the doors and send everyone home.
Option 2 – get those creative juices flowing and innovate!

You don’t have to guess which option we chose.

We certainly didn’t invent childcare, but we did identify a new model – school holiday programs in the workplace, with a purpose to make family life and work life co-exist.

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What we’re doing now is revolutionising childcare via online virtual programs. The idea of a virtual program sparked from the fact that our clients and the working parents of Australia still needed a solution to having their kids at home during the school holidays.

At KidsCo we strive to ‘Change the game’ (it’s literally written on the wall), we ask ‘why’, we rethink ‘how’ and we always do things differently.
So we pivoted overnight.

I spent day one speaking with our partner companies, understanding their requirements to continue operating. We brainstormed how we could build an offering that would be most beneficial for them, support their working parents to continue delivering their work responsibilities and provide support when they needed it most.

And… the KidsCo Virtual School Holiday Program was born.

Based on the feedback from our partner companies, our team designed a program that will support parents from 8:45am – 4:30pm, a full day, every day of the holidays, to ensure kids are engaged and most of all, having FUN (without realising they’re actually learning).

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There are many resources already out there online, in terms of pre-recorded video content and downloadable activities but what is vital at times like these is social interaction. With school closures and playdates being cancelled – it is required more than ever.

What we’re launching will not only provide children live interaction with a qualified school teacher in real-time, it will also provide interaction with one another. They will be able to socialise with the children in the program, as a class, as well as smaller groups based on age. Activity kits with all the resources and materials for the day sent directly to their homes and our teachers online all day to assist and engage.

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This past week (which I’m sure you’ll agree feels more like a month) has been nothing short of amazing, taking on board what is undoubtedly our biggest project & innovation yet. I am incredibly proud and thankful for our team’s ability to come together and bring this project to life in such a short period of time, this has been an undeniable highlight for me.

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In addition to this, in a time where so many are finding themselves unemployed – we have created work for teachers (the real superheroes).

High Five’s (or toe taps),

Adrian

Innovative Ways Employers can make it easier for the real MVPs (Working Mums)

This International Women’s Day, we’re having a conversation about how we can empower working mothers to be superheroes‍

At KidsCo, we rise by lifting others and are celebrating #eachforequal this year. We should be helping not only working mums, but working dads to help create an equal world. After reading the National Working Families 2019 report, we realised that we all need to do more to help working parents.

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What are the biggest challenges facing working parents this year?

62% of working parents find their biggest challenge to be looking after their personal physical and mental wellbeing
⅔ of all working parents are too exhausted and drained when they get home from work to contribute to their family
½ of all women and a ⅓ of men who were parenting or caring said they were under ‘a lot’ of stress or a ‘great deal’ of stress.
⅓ reported that the combination of work and family responsibilities contributed to stress and tension in the relationship with their partners and with their children.
½ had missed out on family activities in the past month, due to time they had to spend at work.

We will put our hand up and say, this just isn’t right. Working Parents are the real superheroes (sorry Spiderman).

This impacts themselves and their little ones. Being a working parent can not only be a barrier in re-entering the workforce but gaining a promotion as well. 1 in 3 parents feel they have been overlooked for a promotion because of their need for flexible working arrangements.

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So what can we do to help them?

Here are the 5 things parents are crying out for:

Flexible working arrangements
In-house childcare (think KidsCo)
Family-friendly leaders in the workplace
Reducing job pressure and workload
Training leaders to embed working family policies

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Implementing even one of these solutions could have your working parents flying!

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How are we helping our team?

We are the biggest advocates for looking after your physical and mental health, after all, it is all about work-life balance. Our team has the flexibility to work from home some days when they need to or leave early to catch up with family. You will see us taking brain breaks during the day, going for a walk around the block, hitting up the gym or taking the time to meditate. Our team is KidsCo and it wouldn’t be the same without them!

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And how can we help your team?‍

We’re your one-stop shop for an ultimate onsite school holiday program! We come to your workspace and look after everyone’s little legends so their parents can work stress-free. Our programs are developed like no other school holiday program out there, think build your own robot and real-life Mario Kart races.

38% of parents want onsite care for their kids, and we should start listening to what they are saying. Get in touch with us!

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