Omnicom agency giant Rapp UK is aiming to give parents and guardians who work at the agency a helping hand with childcare with the launch of a new pilot “School’s Out Support” (SOS) scheme to enable them to juggle kids and work during the school holidays.
Under the scheme, employees with children can work just 70% of their time during core work hours over the summer, with the option to make up the rest of their work time whenever suits them.
The agency is also supporting employees with children to work from home, only requiring them to come into the office for key client or team meetings during the holidays.
Rapp bosses say the aim of the scheme is to give each parent and guardian at the agency the flexibility they need. In addition, Rapp is also providing support around managing the holiday period.
The pilot scheme, which will run for four weeks out of the seven week school summer holidays has emerged from the agency’s “Parents and Carers” focus group. Following the trial, Rapp says it will gather feedback to see if the scheme should be rolled out for future school holidays.
Rapp UK chief executive Gabby Ludzker said: “Research shows that 70% of parents feel stressed about the summer holidays (I certainly do) – and I think we can do more to help them during the point in the year which can feel like an impossible juggle. I’m hoping that the scheme we’ve put in place will give parents and carers some breathing space, allowing them a better balance between enjoying the holidays with their families and their professional development.”
Rapp communications director Emma Kobayashi has already taken advantage of the scheme. She said: “My husband was travelling with work so I went to Suffolk and worked at my parent’s house for a week so they could look after the kids.
“Rather than juggling all the summer camps and different logistics on my own, having this flexibility on how and where I worked has saved me a lot of stress and actually meant I’ve been able to be more productive at work. It also meant I was able to enjoy a couple of afternoons on the beach with my kids and relieve my parents from two energetic tweens.”
Rapp also operates a ‘Work Away’ scheme for all employees, where staff can work from anywhere in the world for a period of up to four weeks so long as they are able to work 70% of the day within UK working hours.
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