Dr. Rosina McAlpine - The Hidden Driver of Retention

What if your retention problem isn’t compensation, flexibility, or career growth, but a hidden strain leaders rarely measure?

In this episode of the People/AI Strategy Forum, Sam Reeve speaks with Dr. Rosina McAlpine, Workplace Wellbeing Expert and Founder of Win Win Parenting, about why supporting working parents is one of the most overlooked drivers of retention, engagement, and performance.

Many organizations invest in benefits, flexibility, and wellbeing programs. But when the realities of parenting stress go unaddressed, those efforts often fall short. Working parents experience some of the highest levels of burnout, stress, and turnover, yet most organizations lack the systems to support them effectively.

Dr. Rosina shares a practical framework for how leaders can move beyond good intentions and build real systems that support both performance and wellbeing.

If your organization is seeing burnout, disengagement, or retention challenges that don’t seem tied to compensation alone, this conversation offers a new lens to understand what’s really happening.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why working parent stress is a hidden driver of turnover and disengagement
 • The connection between parental burnout and workplace performance
 • How lack of support creates retention risk hiding in plain sight
 • The five-step framework to support working parents effectively
 • Why managers play a critical role in employee wellbeing and retention
 • How to design targeted wellbeing programs that actually work
 • The importance of building a truly family-friendly workplace culture
 • How to measure ROI and impact of wellbeing initiatives over time

Key takeaway

Retention is not just a compensation issue.

It’s a support system issue.

When organizations recognize and address the real pressures employees face outside of work, performance doesn’t decline, it strengthens.

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Guest:
 Dr. Rosina McAlpine
 Workplace Wellbeing Expert and Founder of Win Win Parenting, helping organizations reduce burnout.

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About the People/AI Strategy Forum
The People/AI Strategy Forum explores how leaders navigate the intersection of people strategy, leadership, and artificial intelligence. Hosted by Sam Reeve, Founder & CEO of CompTeam, the Forum features conversations with executives, practitioners, and experts shaping the future of work.

Learn more about CompTeam and the People/AI Strategy Forum at compteam.net.

Transcript

Sam 0:01

What if your retention problem isn't compensation flexibility or career paths, but parenting stress that you never measured in 2026? Organizations are winning top talent. They're treating, working parent stress, and as as a critical element in their performance strategy. So to the People Strategy Forum, where we turn complex people challenges into leadership clarity. And I'm Sam Reeve, your host, and CEO of comp team, where we help organizations design people systems that earn trust and sustain high performance. Today's topic is the hidden driver of retention, how supporting working parents builds high performance cultures. our guest today is Dr. Rosina McAlpine. of win-win parenting a work and family wellbeing expert. She helps organizations reduce cycle social risk, boost engagement, and strengthen retention by supporting working parents in practical and measurable ways. here's why this matters. More than half of working parents report ending their day mentally and physically exhausted. I've been there, you know, I know how it feels when you are completely spent and then you come home to your smiling family and you have nothing else to give. over a third say that it's increasingly difficult to stay motivated, and this is a, an important feature that we had to address. And when this becomes left unnoticed, it becomes a retention risk hiding in plain sight. today we explore how leaders move from good intentions to real systems that protect wellbeing and performance. So please welcome Dr. Rosina McAlpine,

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 2:01

Thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here and share ideas so that we can have happy, healthy, productive workforce.

Sam 2:11

for sure. Well, thanks for for joining us today. Now. Dr. Reina, as, as we dive into the topic here, um, I would like to start with the first thing. I mean, as, and it's probably not too hard for me to understand, but, but can you take us through the journey that, that led you to where you are today? What, what experiences in your career, in work life led you to helping, families and, and, uh, uh, businesses in this way?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 2:40

I think I echo your sentiment when you said from personal experience being a working parent, our son is now. 18 years old. So I've been through all the ages and stages from newborn right through to toddler to teenager, and of course at various stages it's had a significant impact on my physical and mental health, sleepless nights guilt. The, the pressures from work and home, um, resulting in overwhelm, you know, the. Just the challenge of raising another human being for over two decades now. Um, how can you be your best at work when you've got no support at work to manage the two largest domains in life? So I'd start with the journey as being personal then. When I was back at work, one of the things that I was an associate professor at the University of Sydney and I was on sabbatical at the University of San Diego, working with a whole group of PhD students. And the topic we were working on was work, family, gender equality in organizations. And what we saw was, at that time, it was many, it was over a decade ago now, there were these programs, wellbeing programs that were being put into organizations. They were not programs that working parents could benefit from. So there were wellbeing intentions, but the outcomes weren't coming through. So just a quick example, how do you say to a working parent who's got a toddler hanging off their leg? Go and take some time out or go and, you know, go to the gym when you've got caring responsibilities. And that's when the epiphany came. I'm gonna start win-win parenting and create programs, wellbeing programs that actually support working parents to manage work and family life. So now over a decade we've seen, you know, organizations from small organizations to large. We work with all levels of government and we now see the impact, what difference it makes in the organization when they're, when working parents are actually supported. And as we, you know, close this little first introduction recently, we put together a closing the gap. Guide on why supporting working parents is so important, and I really appreciate the opportunity. You and I are going to, to, to talk through that. And the reason why I did that is because when you look at Australian data, you look at international data. Working parents have the highest levels of stress when you compare them to non-working parents. The highest rates of burnout, the lowest mental health scores, the highest rates of turnover. And so when you look at all of that, you've gotta say to yourself, we need to do something about it. And that's something is, number one, get the data in your organization. Number two, train your lovely caring leaders to be able to support working parents. Number three. Get those targeted programs that could make a difference. Number four. Programs and policies are one level of support, but actually when you have a truly family friendly workplace culture, individuals are not scared to take that flexibility to enjoy those programs. And finally, when we monitor and report on it, we know what gets measured, um, can get managed. So that's the, you know, five steps that all of this has kinda led me to here.

Sam 6:22

Yes. And we're gonna go through each of those five steps in, in detail so our audience can, can get the full power of the program here. But, uh, uh, you know, I remember, and this is as I started out, this is truly personal to me because I remember the days when, when I had my first child and, and I felt, well, it was just, it was very overwhelming for both of us. I was in a job at the time where if I, if I made a single mistake, you know, it could cost the company millions of dollars just by not, you know, not having the decimal in the right spot or, or mistyping something. And, and it was so, it was very high pressure. And then of course, when I first born, came along, I mean, there was this sleepless nights as we're trying to figure out how to parent and what to do, and I, I felt in, uh, incredibly guilty by going out and, and sleeping on the couch and while my leaving my wife to. To offend with this, this, uh, new little one. uh, but I, I felt like, you know, geez, I had a, you know, if I, if I got fired, we would be in big trouble, you know? And, and so it was a lot of stress. A lot of stress. And so thankfully, uh, that I can, I can see that this is gaining ground and, and, uh, uh, thank you for bringing this important issue to businesses and so forth.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 7:39

You know, wellbeing programs is nice to have, but actually we know for decades now that if individuals are not thriving. Holistically, mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, they're not doing well at work. And the same is true for working parents. So you can't just say it's a nice to have because that interface between and family life is one of the biggest stresses anybody can experience, like you and I have both talked about. are they missing? They're missing the data. The data that we talked about, if we, you know, just simply look at the data in their organization and outside, we'd see working. Parents are not doing very well. what that means is that leaders are not taking care of their responsibilities when it comes to psychosocial safety. If working parents have high rates of stress, high rates of mental health illness, high rates of turnover, high weight. High rates of burnout, then we're not creating a safe environment where employees, mental, physical, emotional health through, you know, fair work. You know, being able to meet all of the demands and the final thing they're not remembering is. When we look at the research on parental burnout and workplace burnout, we know there is a what's called a bidirectional relationship. So in other words, inevitably if you are feeling burnt out in the parenting domain, that is gonna creep into burnout in the workplace domain. The same. Same if you are really burnt out with really overstretched timelines and workloads, that's going to impact parental burnout. So we can't just say it's a nice to have, there's so many reasons why if we wanna high performing workforce with caring responsibilities, we need to do something about it.

Sam 9:41

Yes. And so it's clear that that, uh, the cost for an organization, this comes in a lot of ways. And as you mentioned, burnout is a big one. That's, that's happening right now, uh, across the world. I mean, we're, there's organizations that are feeling a, uh, a higher rate of burnout. Uh, there's a lot of things that are pouring into that, of course. But, and also as you mentioned, that, you know, there, there can be higher rates of apte uh, absenteeism, you know, as people are, are trying to balance the, the, uh, their responsibilities and ultimately can lead to turnover. So it's, there's a lot of impacts that this can have on an organization.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 10:18

So true.

Sam 10:19

But let's, let's, uh, let's reframe this and, and start going through your steps now. I think that the first piece that you mentioned is that you really need to have the, the data. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 10:35

What we say is that if you don't know what the issues are or the risks are, how can you mitigate them? And generally, when we do those general risk assessments, we're not. Targeting the issues that are for each different segment of our organization. Now, working parents generally make up anywhere from around 30%, about a third, right up to, you know, two thirds. In some industries, there'll be much higher rates of working parents, um, particularly in government for example. It gives a good, stable, uh, place to work. So we have to segment our data, first of all to make sure that. Working parents across all levels. We wanna know wherever they are in the organization and that's when we can use those targeted surveys, focus groups to uncover the unique stresses. One of the things I wanna stress here is not to stress your parents after what. that because we want it to be confidential, that they feel safe. Um, and that's why, you know, sometimes getting data from the EAP employment assistance provider can help where, what are the things that are presenting most, right when, when they're going to the counselors and for extra support. And oftentimes the top three relate to family, parent, parenting, workplace, and then also personal stress from all of that. Once we've got some data on all the, the risks, you know, what are the big risks? Like workload, like support, like work, family conflict. Um, we are then able to map it against, you know, workplace health and safety codes because we do wanna make sure our employees are safe then. you do that, you know you're in a really good position to say, well, I've got data on the problems. What programs have we got in place that actually address those problems? And if the answer is none, then you got a big job. If the answer is some, then good work. made us start and then finally. So important that we document that. You know, it's not a one-off survey that we put in a drawer somewhere. They've gotta be documented, prioritized, and put somewhere where we're saying, look, this is our organizational risk register and these are the things we're working on to make sure that when we do a risk assessment, when we do gather the data, we know what are the risks, what we're doing to support them, and where we're up to with that.

Sam 13:14

So it was really, really important to take that, uh, that working parent risk assessment, is that, uh, delivered directly just to, to working parents or is that something that goes across the entire organization?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 13:26

Absolutely when it's a working parent risk assessment, then you're specifically targeting them.'cause we might have other surveys for other large groups. So there might be, for example, groups in the organization that are fly in, fly out, or do you know what I mean? So you can say they're going to have unique risks, just like the working parents. Another group that are actually. Quite at risk at the moment. We know from data is early entry into the workforce when you're first coming in, um, with, you know, stress, mental health challenges, you know, for our youth that we know they've experienced. So by. Segmenting our organization, we can target the right questions, but as I said, one of the things is we do want confidentiality. We do want them to feel safe so we're not, you know, going in there, um, with a heavy hand to try and gather this data, but really from that family friendly culture. We realize the job you're doing is amazing. You're working at home and you're trying to support, you know, the economy through your work. We wanna make sure that we're identifying how we can best support you to achieving both domains.

Sam 14:37

So, so really ensuring that you have a good assessment protocol so it feel, so people feel like they're not centered, singled out. And then also that, uh, we're targeting the correct groups with the right questions. Now w with your working parent, uh, risk assessment, does it, uh, create an action plan once you're done?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 14:55

Exactly. So once you know the stress factors, that's the, that's the best thing. Once you've got, these are the things that are causing problems. So for example, time pressure, emotional fatigue, work life conflict, all of those things. Everyone experiences themselves. I'm not trying to single working parents out in the sense that everyone can be time pressured, emotional fatigue, and we want. Obviously workplace is to work for everybody. However, we know that work-life conflict disproportionately impacts working parents. Um, so we wanna make sure that, you know, we identify that if you are an individual and at the end of the day you go home and you can relax because you do not have caring responsibilities, you are in a very different position to someone who goes home. The home life begins, that second shift begins. And then if you've, you know, setting up an early meeting the next morning and you haven't had any sleep because you've had a sleepless night with sick kids, the work life conflict is absolutely different to someone who is caring for themselves or in a partnership, you know, caring for another. Um, and again, we can also add, uh. who are caring for elderly parents. We

Sam 16:09

Right.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 16:10

there's this sandwich generation where a lot of people who have children are also now caring for their parents. So they're getting this, this, the work life conflict from, you know, both ends.

Sam 16:23

Yes. Yes, for sure. So let, let's move on to the next step of this. So in embed those family friendly leadership practices, so you've said that managers are the key in motivating employees, but what are the top three manager behaviors that mostly influence whether working parents thrive or disengage?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 16:47

So the first thing is. need our HR leaders to be trained to watch out for early warning signs.

Sam 16:54

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 16:55

we, if we start to see changes in personality or performance, you know, things like emotional outbursts, conflict with colleagues, not turning up to meetings or not coming on camera like yes at the meeting, but no camera on, you know, no smiling face to say, yes, I'm here and I'm doing well. Um, missing deadlines are not their same happy self. So, you know, one of the things we need is HR leaders to feel confident and trained to look for those signs. The next thing that's really important is. And I've seen this in action myself. When leaders step up and share their own challenges, when they role model flexibility, I mean, imagine getting an email from your manager saying, I'm coming into work late this morning because my child's getting a prize at school, and I'm gonna do that. So if you need me, text me. Don't phone me, but text me. I can answer any, you know, emergencies through text, but I'll be in a little later, you know, when. When leaders role model that flexibility, when they share that, yes, know, I'm one of you. I understand your challenges now I get it. Not all leaders have children or caring responsibilities. I get that. So then it's lead with empathy. So try and find out what it would be like, or just imagine like. Ask yourself the questions, what would it be like if I didn't just have to get myself outta the house in the morning, feed myself, I had to feed a few others and get them to school and then I had to get there. And then what happens if I get a call from school about my child needs me? You know, starting to get that empathy so that you can lead with empathy. So, and then the final thing and the third thing I'll, I'll talk about,'cause that's our top three is. That open communication, and I don't mean be there as a counselor or a coach, that's the job of EAP, that's the job of others. But just what if you could have a. A chat with your, uh, team, saying things like, what would make your workday easier right now, or what are the key challenges you've got in, you know, whether it's in timing or work deadlines, or whether it's workload or work, family conflict, because. When that kind of question is asked, even just the acknowledgement that, yes, I've got more on my plate than just your demands for what I need at work. That can create a powerful cultural shift where there's this trust between manager and employee to be able to talk about things rather than hide it. And that's when it's insidious. That's when it's, you know, that. that we get, like you said, from disengagement to overwhelm, to not turning up, and then eventually maybe turn over.

Sam 19:50

Great. So what's the best way for leaders to support or to help train their managers? I mean, of course they need to understand how to have effective communication. Uh, they need to understand, uh, the, the appropriate amount of, uh, empathy and, and then also to establish, uh, uh, guardrails are boundaries of, uh, which, what is appropriate and when should they hand off to the next expert or, or provide support and, uh, to another expert. Uh, what are your thoughts there?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 20:23

I think what you're talking about, which is why I lead with empathy for leaders.

Sam 20:29

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 20:30

Can you imagine what it's like? And I know I've managed very diverse teams, when you're trying to make sure everybody is supported and you might not know those circumstances, it might not be something in your remit like, you know, managing a, a person with a child with additional needs, managing a person who's got a physical or, um, other type of additional needs, or men disability. You know, there's a big range that individual. Managers are managing. So when it comes to proactively supporting parents. Really important to get the education under their belt. So understanding the risks, and that's why that first piece of risk assessment is so important. That's why that open communication where you are finding out what's going on, it doesn't blindside you, is important, but like you said. There has to be a line where you go, okay, I now know this. I can refer you on to the help that you need. This is, you know, I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a counselor, so I can't help you with that. And I think that's where the training comes in. The training comes in, know the risks, know how to have those conversations, know what your, where your limit is and where the professionals are. the big thing here is we absolutely know that. There is a, what can I say? There's a. There's a benefit to the leader once they've got this because they've got motivated, loyal, focused, productive employees that is much easier to manage than someone who is disengaged and is combative and is overwhelmed and is gonna leave. And I'd like to leave just a little quote, if I might hear one of the ones that I've pulled out from our programs and it said, my workplace offering this program. Makes me proud to work here. Seeing my employer invest in these sessions helps me to feel loyal and engaged, and that's exactly what we want. So when, when managers are proactively supporting saying, Hey, did you know we've got this program? Hey, do you know that we've got the ap? Hey, do you know that we could move that meeting, um, to not at drop school, drop off or pick up time? Um, you've got that loyalty engagement and that's gonna make such a big difference too. The workload of the leader as well. There's the win-win again.

Sam 22:54

Yes. Well, I like what you said about the, the starting with the assessment because of course the assessment can also give us the important information about the, the different populations within our employee group. I mean, such as those that are, are parents, uh, those that have, um, that, that are in the care of elderly parents, uh, and, and those people with different needs. And this helps us go to the next step of, of tailoring our wellbeing programs. So, uh, can you tell us a a little bit about that process?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 23:26

Absolutely. And I think, you know, of the things that you, can talk about is that we know that individuals. Want programs and support even over a pay rise. We know that, and I've got some data that said, you know, 37% of working parents would prefer better wellbeing support over a 10% pay rise. Right? That's

Sam 23:55

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 23:56

So how do you put those programs in place? Well, the first thing is you. Don't you put in programs that address the specific challenges? So if it's managing work and family, it could be on routines and rituals for parents. For in employees with children or with caring responsibilities? Not, you know, how do you get yourself organized? Um, it could be about how do we help children learn routines and rituals so that it is easier at home. It could be, we know that one of the biggest reasons individuals leave work is their children's mental health. Now oftentimes mental health programs in organizations are for the adult, not for the adult who is managing a child, raising a child, and has children with mental health challenges. So that can be a topic that's important.

Sam 24:53

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 24:54

when we have the risk assessment, things like we know that. about 30% of kids are bullied. We know that there's a very high percentage of parents who say, I cannot get my kids off social media. I cannot get them off screens. You know? So these are the kinds of help that make such a difference. first of all, targeted programs in the sense that. They're not, you know, they're, they're across all the different risks, but also that they are long lasting. I always, I kind of joke, but it's not a joke. Um, when organizations do the one program on, you know, family Friendly day or you know, we are going to one for World Children's Day or something like that. It's like that. That's the be all and end all. We've done that. Now, tick your working parents, you got this. We did the one program. It's. All good, but we know that that one program grows away, but the children don't go away. The children are there in day in, day out, and for a long, extended period of time. So having programs that deal with the different stages, you know, uh. Parental leave and return to work, particularly vulnerable time. Then you've got toddlers, then you've got school aged, then you've got teenagers. And you know, you don't want, uh, I always, again, joke about this. You don't want someone who's raising a toddler to be in a, a session with, you know. Parents of teenagers going, oh, the drugs, the alcohol, and they're like, I just can't get my kid to eat anything other than white. Don't tell me about drugs and alcohol.

Sam 26:37

I know.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 26:39

I don't wanna know about

Sam 26:39

Yeah.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 26:41

So, so when we are tailoring these programs, they've gotta be. Targeted to the right area. Not to think of, you know, parents as a, as a chunk. They're not a chunk, they're a very diverse group. we want them longevity. Third, we wanna make sure we can measure. We want feedback, we want engagement. We wanna know that people are using the, the resources, and so. In our programs, we set it up such that you have live where you can ask questions and answers and there during work hours to show we value you. We are gonna get you to do these programs during work hours. It doesn't have to be an outside. Another thing that you've gotta do outside work, but we value you. So we often run our programs during work hours, but if, let's say you can't make it, we've also got on demand replays resources. Podcast downloadable handouts. So there's this real flexibility in being able to access. So I hope that's.

Sam 27:46

Yeah, that's, that's very good. I mean, I, I, and I like the fact that you pointed out that you, we need to, you can't just have the checkbox a attitude of, oh, we did that training. Boom. When you're moving on, you need to create lasting change and ensuring things that are really digested into the culture. And another thing I want to re reiterate is that because I am a, uh, uh, by trade, I'm a, a compensation expert, I help companies, um, put pay programs in multi nationally. And, and of course, when you said that 37% of working parents would prefer better wellbeing support over a 10 pay, 10% pay increase, that, that really took my breath away. I mean, that is a, that really points out the ROI of having a program like this in place. I mean, if it's, if, uh, if those stats are, are, are, uh, true, I mean the, the ROI of this program is huge. And so I think that's really important for our leaders out there that are listening in to really take point on, on this, in this initiative. It's really being, uh, listening to your people, understanding their unique issues and, and they change as, as we all grow, right? So, you know, uh, and, and we just need to make sure that we are consistently monitoring during that and, and being adaptive. But that takes us to our next step here. Uh, Dr. Rosina is building a supportive workplace culture. And so, uh, can you tell us a little bit about that? The, the steps involved in, in, in doing that initiative?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 29:20

Yeah. I love when, you know, we were having our chat before this podcast, one of the word, one of the things that you said to me was, you know, policies alone don't shift culture.

Sam 29:29

Hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 29:30

we know that. Um. Policies are so important. So I'm never saying we don't have policies. Of course we do. But actually understanding, undertaking, implementing, using, uh, adapting are more important. So know that many, you know, behaviors might unintentionally working parents. And what we wanna do is we wanna say, okay. What are the risks? One of the risks is scheduling meetings when parents have gotta pick up or drop off their kids. Uh, being very mindful during school holidays. School holidays can be such a challenging time for working parents. They've gotta get their kids into holiday programs. If they've got older children, um, monitoring what they are doing, we know what. Teenagers can get up to if we're at work and they're at home with their mates, um, we know it's not time to set big milestones during the school holidays. We know when they're set, managers know that. So it's a policy, policies and procedures and understanding that we go, okay. Our culture is family friendly, so we now know that in order to be family friendly, you've got priorities for your family at certain times of the day, at certain times of the year. We know you've got all these many challenges, so we've put flexibility in place and please use it. You know, we've got managers who have KPIs. Odd working parents. So make sure that you are, do have a manager who will listen and direct you in the right direction. That is monitoring your physical, social, and mental wellbeing and directing you when you need it. So when you know people. Have employers that are truly family friendly. There's a different culture. You come to work, you're focused and productive because you know, there are leaders that care, there are policies and procedures in place that support and protect you to not be overwhelmed at work so that you can have that, you know, work life interface that doesn't stress you, doesn't. Um. Affect your mental health and it doesn't affect your family life as well.

Sam 32:02

Mm, I love that. You know, the, the, the important thing is, is that, uh, if we have a, a culture, a family supportive culture, then this, then the, the, the nature of unfairness around, uh, uh, uh, of, around these special initiatives as of scheduling meetings and, and thinking about that kind of goes away because we're thinking about a, a holistic support group. Uh, and that's part of our, our company culture overall. So, and would you agree?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 32:33

I agree, and I think that's the important to say we're we're applying transparent criteria, so we're ensuring workload. And flexibility is all about performance, not about a concession. Not are you poor working parents, we're gonna give you a concession. No, be the same for individuals who are in FIFO, fly in, fly out roles, individuals who are new to the organization and still haven't kind of got their feet with

Sam 33:01

Yeah.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 33:02

and family life, right? So the whole aim, we wanna say, we want our whole workforce to thrive and. That sometimes means we don't give the same training because one doesn't help the other, right? So if you give a new employee who doesn't have children training on how to care for a new baby, that is not helpful.

Sam 33:30

Yeah,

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 33:31

So the

Sam 33:31

right. They,

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 33:32

same way. Right? So that's all we're trying to say. We're trying to say, let's be transparent and say we want everyone of our employees to thrive. And we understand that some, we understand that some situations, some groups of our, you know, employees have different challenges that we have not accounted for.

Sam 33:56

yeah, so we should definitely customize our armed booted Pro programs, our training programs, so that they're relevant and so our people don't fall asleep during training for sure.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 34:07

I love that.

Sam 34:08

Yeah. So. So, so for our listeners out there, if you, if you lead leaders, I mean, of, of course. I mean, I want you to, to, to share this episode and, and ask them a simple question, you know, how can we improve our support for working parents? How can we be more nimble about the needs of our workforce? I mean, I think that's something that we should all take as a, as an action plan for sure. Now, Dr. Razina, the, the, the final step, as you mentioned, is really monitoring the success. And this really goes for any program and you should really monitor the success of the program and reports on its impact. So what are the best ways to do that for, uh, your programs?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 34:53

In the early days because we're just embedding the programs. What we are looking for in the early days are number one, engagement

Sam 35:02

Hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 35:03

in the program, feedback on the program. Use of the resources live. And also recorded. So in the early days, it's like, have we hit the mark? Are people able to access, uh, what's the feedback saying? So I, I'd like to give a couple of, you know, uh, quotes if I may, here,

Sam 35:24

Yeah.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 35:25

that the. just get measures of, oh, you know, 50% of our working parents turned up what we need, or, you know, another 30% access the resources and access the replays, but get the actual outcomes of what you are trying to achieve. So I'm gonna share just a few. these are very typical. So this is not like I just picked one. We've, you know, been working with hundreds and thousands of working parents and these are the common things they'll say. So balancing work and family life strategies really helped me cope. So now we're hearing, you know, we're not having that overwhelming stress, it's coping. The strategies for creating routines at home while managing a busy workload have been invaluable. So there you go. Okay. I targeted that work. Family conflict. The next one. I love this one. You know, a single parent. As a single parent, I often feel torn between work and home. This program makes me feel supported, not guilty. the other thing is. Working parents. It's a strange thing, and I'm sure you've felt it from time to time. We always feel alone like we're the only human that's experiencing this. And it says, good to know. Other parents are facing the same challenges. It makes me feel less isolated, so. These are dealing with all of those stress points. Um, I love this one too. This has given me the confidence to speak with my manager about flexibility to better balance work and parenting. So if we give them the courage and the tools and the ways to speak with management. And the last one I wanted to talk with, talk to is this one. My employer providing this program demonstrates a genuine commitment to a family friendly workplace culture. This is exactly type of initiative that shows an organization understands the reality of working parents. So that's the kind of feedback you wanna gather, you know, in. How is this impacting you? What are the stresses that it's been able to, you know, help you overcome? Um, last one here, there's, this has been very helpful for managing my family life, which has a direct impact on my ability to work well. Now we know that, but it's nice to hear it from the person saying, I've got this now. So I think initially we wanna focus on the program. Is it working? Is it targeting the stresses? But over time. As it is embedded, you wanna see changes in the culture of that organization. Measurements of culture, measurements of motivation, and um, measurements of wellbeing, lower mental health scores. You, um. Higher mental health scores, lower mental health stress, you know, uh, less EAP, you know, for working parents constantly going to get the help, you know, because parents are going, no, no, I've got this. I, I don't need to see a counselor. I just get those resources on bullying. I can manage it. I get that on mental health. I can manage it. Um, so, and of course then the big ones, the big ones are productivity managers, seeing deadlines being met. No mistakes, customers being won, you know, all the things that you wanna see in terms of productivity. And of course the big one is retention. We know how expensive it is you are losing your staff. Number one. So a team member leaves because they're overwhelmed or stressed, you know? Um, so all the other team members have to pick up the slack. So now we've already stressed out, not just, you know, everyone's stressed. Then we've gotta find a person. We've gotta pay for, you know, recruiter to get a new person cost a lot of money. Then we've gotta get them in the team. Now they've gotta find new bonds, form new connections and partnerships. They've now got to be retrained and all of that has now disrupted everything.'cause you lost one person because there was no proactive support for that human to keep them on, on, on Dex. So I think there's a very big case that we know from, from other literatures that say. Effective wellbeing. Targeted effective wellbeing programs have ROI of two and three and sometimes four times in terms of productivity and cost. And we also know that the ones that are in place longer have higher ROI, for the

Sam 39:57

Yes.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 39:57

the change has been embedded. So was a very long-winded answer, but I think that's how we genuinely can measure ROI over time.

Sam 40:07

Yeah. And it is for sure, you know what get me, what gets measured, gets managed. And when I can say one thing is, and I know, uh, a lot of the turnover sta statistics, very. Accurately is that at, at a minimum, if you lose one person, and, and at a minimum it's a 33% cost on the organization from hiring, from onboarding, from retraining. And that's at a minimum, that's a lower level jobs and it just gets more expensive as you go up. So, uh, the ROI in a program like, like this is undeniable, but, uh, you know, Dr. Sina, on, on a personal note, uh, what weekly leadership habit would you recommend every executive adopt to better support working parents?

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 40:59

This is gonna sound a little strange, but I would actually recommend that every leader looks after themselves first, first and foremost. And I say that because leaders are stretched as well. They've got their KPIs for productivity. They've got their, you know, uh, trying to manage a. a large workforce oftentimes, and a very diverse workforce. So oftentimes they're stretched, and many times they're probably hearing this and going, I'm a working parent and a carer as well, and I'm a leader. You know, so now there's this, this really big responsibility. So step number one is fill your bucket so that you've got something to offer. So I would say a good strategy is check in on your own. Personal, physical, mental, social, emotional wellbeing. Once you've got that, I always say, when you are happy and fulfilled inside and you've got energy, it bubbles out. You can't help but be a good leader,

Sam 41:57

Yeah.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 41:57

I hope, but be inspirational. So once you are in a really good position to lead because you're leading yourself, then you're in a good position to find out well. What are the stresses and how can I overcome them? So I would say take care of yourself so that you're in a best position to support others by learning and leading with empathy.

Sam 42:19

I think that's, uh, the one, uh, uh, great learning we've got from airline travel is, is to put on your own mask first before you help others, right? We cannot, uh, yeah, we cannot help from a, a, a point of weakness. So it's important for leaders to take care of themselves first for, for sure. Uh, so for our listeners out there, if this conversation has helped, uh, please subscribe, rate, and share with a coworker that really needs to, to hear about how, uh, a, a, how to help working parents in, in their, in their area. This can be a, a super power, powerful way to, uh, really get that trust and and commitment from your people. But I'd like to recap all of this today by, by saying that we, we've reframed working parent support as a strategic lever, not a accommodation. Uh, so the formula is, is quite clear, uh, and we need to start with assessing risk, equipping managers, tailor programs, embed culture. And then as Dr. Reina said, it's important to measure the results because the, the impact of these programs will, will truly surprise you with it, with, uh, the amount of an engagement and cost savings. You can see when leaders address the stress, parents carry performance doesn't decline it, it strengthens. And so I think that, uh, uh, we need to really be thankful of Dr. Rosina here for bringing this up and for the support that you, uh, spread across the industry. So thank you so much.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 43:56

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And please let the, uh, listeners know that the guide is available freely, that's free and there's free People Leader training on my, uh, website. That's how much it matters, you know, that we train our people, leaders and, and support working parents.

Sam 44:14

Oh, that's great. Uh, and, and so, uh, Dr. Razina, is there any other, uh, uh, guidance or, or, uh, support or things that are going on this year that you wanna highlight? Hmm.

Dr. Rosina McAlpine 44:26

Yes. Um, we, uh, I'm very data driven. at the moment we are working on a series of white papers to give us the most up-to-date information around the world, um, on. Working parents and we are looking at things like interactions between, we know we are starting to see in these preliminary results that the higher the support from a manager, the better the mental health, the lower the support from a manager. The poorer, the mental health. So we're gonna be able to share from countries all over the world, Europe, Asia, us, Australia, uh, New Zealand. So stay tuned. got a series of working papers coming out that will really inform your wellbeing strategies when it comes to working parents and support you to ask the right questions so that you can get that engagement, support and family friendly workplace culture in your organization. So watch this space.

Sam 45:30

Well, that's exciting. I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing that, that, uh, uh, research. Well, thank you so much for, for joining us today, and to all our listeners out there, please join us again next week on the People Strategy Forum. All right, take care, and we'll see you soon.