PARENTS struggling to balance childcare and work are a rare phenomenon at a Barcelona insurance company – it has set up a playroom with computer desks so mums and dads can carry on working but supervise their kids at the same time.
Rather than a crèche, the so-called 'conciliation room' at ARAG legal expenses insurers means that now children are on holiday from school, their parents can take them to work and still, effectively, spend all day with them.
It is fitted with a TV, a blackboard, and toys suitable for all ages, as well as cribs and baby-changing mats for tiny tots.
Employees with children tend to rotate, sharing the desks in the room for a few hours at a time, then moving back into the main office so they can concentrate fully on their work whilst other staff keep an eye on their children as they look after their own kids.
On average, says Planning and HR manager Silvia Cruz, it has been used for just under four hours a day, or 19-and-a-quarter hours a week, in the past year.
And communications manager Neus Tuells says the children enjoy themselves, make new friends and learn through play, as well as being able to have lunch with their mums.
Clearly, she says, they could do so with their dads who work for the company, but as yet only two of the male employees have used it.
None of the fathers at the firm has taken advantage of paternity leave or reduced, flexible working hours, Neus reveals – all parents there who work part-time to allow them to care for their children are mums.
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