‘The Spark’ is when business leaders stand right on the cusp of opportunity, but need a little extra oomph to move from inspiration to transformation. Keep an eye on the Kinesis blog for this new series.
Kinesis School: Supporting our team and the next generation
Parents who are doing several jobs at once during the pandemic — employee, teacher and full-time child care provider — need help. But whether they get it largely depends on where they work.
Many companies can’t afford to offer extra benefits, like subsidized childcare, paid leave, or flexible hours. Those who can say it’s the humane thing to do for employees — and an investment that will pay off.
That’s why at the height of the pandemic, Kinesis joined other businesses in rethinking how we support our employees and invest in their wellbeing both at work and outside of it. We transformed our empty office into a makeshift school for our employees’ school-aged children. This provided a structured environment for kids that allowed for social interaction and real-time problem-solving with an onsite teacher. It also allowed the parents on our team to work comfortably from home with one less project to tackle.
© Leah Nash for The New York Times.
“It’s going away from saying, ‘This is your individual problem and your family’s problem’ to saying, ‘We see this as a business problem we need to address,’” said Anja Taylor, director of operations at Kinesis, whose two children attended ‘Kinesis School.’
Read more in this New York Times feature (account required).
All images courtesy of Leah Nash and The New York Times.
