“School Daze” is more than an old Spike Lee movie. It’s the latest “COVID-19 gift” as one of my clients facetiously refers to ancillary issues created by the pandemic. As employers, we are watching and waiting to see what new burdens are going to be foisted on us in the coming weeks.
School Daze
Plans for reopening, partially reopening or not reopening schools will have a huge impact on our employees. (We’ll get to the impact on their children at another time.) The variety of proposals is mind-numbing, and none is very appealing. I’ve seen proposals for:
- Split sessions. Some children go to school from 7:30 until noon, others from 1:00 PM until 5:30. This has the advantage of not requiring lunch, but is bad for the kids who depend on school lunches for a decent meal. It worked in the ’50s, but teachers (and their unions) are opposed to the long workday. District budgets don’t allow for doubling staff, so that idea seems to be a non-starter.
- Reduced weeks. Some kids go to school from Monday to Wednesday, and others from Thursday through Saturday. Again we have staffing issues, and would have to seriously consider reducing the curriculum to focus entirely on academics. On one parent committee, the comment was “But my kids play soccer on Saturdays.” (Talk about clueless!)
- Here or there: One school district is planning to split the school year into 9-week “mini-mesters.” Students will have to register for either in-person classes or remote classes, and make that choice anew for each 9-week period. I have no idea how any extra-curricular activities would be handled.
- A little of both: A few days remote, and a few in-person each week.
- Split split sessions: Perhaps the worst idea is one group of students attending on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with the other half going on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I can’t believe that proposal was even made, much less seriously considered.
Employee Daze
Working parents are facing a double dilemma. Do they send their children to school in the first place, or keep them home until the virus is under control? Regardless of their choice, how do they balance their need to earn a living with caring for their children?
Even if they can work from home, they will lose productivity to the demands of teaching (if the kids are home,) or scheduling (if they are attending school on any non-5 day rotation.) If they can’t work from home, they are almost inevitably balancing between finding part-time child care (itself another level of risk) or raising latchkey kids.
Some families are pooling resources to hire teachers (or share teaching duties) for “learning pods” or “cottage schools.” It’s a stopgap solution for those who can pay for it or dedicate the hours, but not many can afford either the time or the additional expense.
As with most such disasters, the lower socioeconomic levels will fare the worst. Those who can’t work from home, and can’t afford child care, also can’t afford reduced income and are least likely to focus on their children’s lessons. The cycle of poverty continues.
Employer Daze
You can guess whose lap this winds up in, right? As good employers, we feel responsible for our workers’ welfare, even when we don’t have a clear legal obligation. How do we navigate the maze of different issues that will present in another few weeks?
We could simply be Darwinian. Some folks would just have to resign, and we could hire others who don’t have (or don’t tell us about) child care issues. I find that approach distasteful, and would hope that it’s only a last resort.
If we want to keep our best and most loyal employees, we have to get a lot more flexible. Reduced hours, job sharing, remote working, piece work, weekend work, early arrivals, late departures, and other types of creativity will be needed. We will focus more on what needs to be accomplished, and a lot less on the how, when and where of doing it.
It’s not just school daze. Everyone is going to be a bit dazed as these new “COVID-19 gifts” hit. It won’t be forever, but how we handle it will impact our companies’ cultures and our employees’ attitudes long after the virus has stopped being such a dominant issue.
