Parents’ emotional health – the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that influence their livelihoods – are shaped by their experiences at work. A stressful workplace affects family life, and it can have an impact on their children’s emotional development.

A new report by researchers at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge is urging employers to do more to support the emotional health of parents in the workforce. Doing so, it argues, would help parents provide the nurturing and stimulating care which supports their children’s emotional health.

The report was produced by researchers from the Centre for Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) for the Centre for Emotional Health. It investigates how organisational practices can improve parents’ emotional health and the positive consequences this could have for parenting and early child development.

The authors summarise clear scientific evidence that parents’ interactions with their children play a critical role in social and emotional development. Positive interactions are especially important in early childhood and increase the likelihood that children will be emotionally healthy throughout life.  An estimated 4.69 million working parents in the UK are currently also raising children under 5 years old. The report suggests  the relationship between these parents’ emotional health and their working environment could have a considerable impact on these children.   

Similar studies show that emotionally healthy workplaces will have long-term benefits beyond supporting workforce performance, productivity, staff retention and team dynamics. It has been estimated that improvements in early childhood development would lead to £27.5bn in additional earning for the UK workforce and £11.8bn additional profits for business.

In a thorough literature review, however, PEDAL’s researchers found a lack of pre-existing research on parenting or emotional health within workplaces. They therefore created theoretical models illustrating how different practices could impact parents’ emotional health, parenting skills, and their children’s own emotional development.

Practices implemented by companies including LEGO, Ella’s Kitchen, and Timpson were used as examples. LEGO’s Employee Play Engagement Team aims to encourage a play culture among its workforces. Their methods include an annual “Play Day” for employees, opportunities to engage in play-based volunteering, and an internal platform for promoting playful activities.

Ella’s Kitchen uses its own HR group, the Make People Happy Team, to encourage playfulness and open communication at work. They prescribe descriptive names to roles and teams in order to foster creativity, host assemblies to recognise progress, and provide comprehensive mental health support.

Timpson provides employee support tailored specifically to parents. In addition to flexible working and mental health provision, employees can take an extra day off when their children begin school.

The report explains how all of these policies could be beneficial, by helping parents engage with their children or providing them with more time to do so. By producing this initial review and the accompanying theoretical modelling, the authors hope to inspire future research into emotional health in workplace settings.

Peter Leonard, Chief Executive, The Centre for Emotional Health said: “Creating emotionally healthy workplaces is not about “yoga sessions or wellbeing hours” but about the habits and structures that create genuinely emotionally healthy environments. This will not only benefit individuals and workplaces; it is also likely to have a positive impact on employees’ lives outside of work, including family life.”

Sally Hogg, who co-authored the report while working as Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge, said: “There is clear evidence that stress at work impacts on life outside work too. It feels obvious that improving parents’ experiences in the workplace will have wider benefits on their family life, but this has not been well-researched. We know many employers are committed to improving employees’ quality of life and to having a social impact. It would be fantastic to see more work done to identify what really works, so employers know the things they can do to make a positive difference to this generation, and the next!”