Daily Times

Sabra Kanwal was five months pregnant when she joined Interloop Limited, the textile manufacturing company. The daycare facility at work was a big draw. Knowing her son — and eventually her daughter — were in good hands gave her peace of mind, helping her to focus on her job. Now a deputy manager in the company’s HR department, she describes it as “a blessing for a working mother like me”.

The need for an on-site daycare centre was born several years ago, when analytics showed that a large number of women quit their jobs or were reluctant to join the workforce due to inadequate childcare support. This insight motivated the company to start offering on-site daycare facilities in its factories.

Around the world, lack of access to quality and affordable childcare represents a key barrier to women securing and remaining in employment. When a significant portion of a nation’s workforce sits on the sidelines, it impacts the economy. In Pakistan, women carry out 90 percent of unpaid care work and are often excluded from salaried and full-time employment. Female labour force participation, at 22 percent, is among the lowest in South Asia and the world.

Companies often perceive family-friendly policies in workplaces as an expensive proposition. However, when employers begin offering childcare support and family-friendly policies, such as paid leave, to their employees and see the benefits to the business — they start viewing it as an investment with returns for both companies and employees alike.

Pakistan has set ambitious targets for improving female labour force participation in the near-future. Childcare provision and other family-friendly policies, such as paid maternity and paternity leave, are crucial to this

At the International Finance Corporation (IFC) we agree. As the largest global development organisation working with the private sector in emerging markets, we know the evidence is there. Our 2017 global report Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare and subsequent reports in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and now in Pakistan, confirm this understanding. IFC research shows childcare and family-friendly policies go hand-in-hand with fostering workplace gender diversity and help parents enter and advance in the workforce, while enabling companies to strengthen the bottom line.

In 2019, IFC partnered with the Pakistan Business Council to lead a peer-learning collaboration—Tackling Childcare Pakistan: Creating Family-Friendly Workplaces—with 13 Pakistani companies and Pakistan-based multinationals. The participants committed to supporting parents in finding better work-life integration and implementing policies such as paid paternity leave, breastfeeding support, and childcare facilities.

The findings show that introducing family-friendly policies helped these companies—with more than 85,000 workers—boost employee productivity, lower absenteeism, and reduce staff turnover. Employers cited several other benefits including positive workplace culture, improved employee morale, better investor and buyer relations, and a stronger pipeline of female candidates.

At Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), for example, managers saw improved employee engagement, reduced stress levels, and higher productivity, which was also reflected in improved business returns, despite adverse circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM)’s Commercial and Human Resources Director Zahid Iqbal reported that his company was “able to retain and attract top talent from the industry. Employees were able to focus and deliver on their KPIs [Key Performance Indicators]. Employees are now more engaged and motivated at work. There has been significant impact on employee satisfaction and overall productivity”.

In 2019, Interloop revamped the childcare facility at its Lahore Plant, attesting its impact on employee motivation, engagement, and retention. While Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan reported how a daycare facility helped the company create a pipeline of female candidates, EBM noted improved attendance records and a higher retention rate.

Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on businesses, these employers also found that a family-friendly workplace, allowing greater flexibility to deliver work, was critical to protecting the well-being of workers as well as ensuring business continuity. For PTCL, family-friendly policies are now a critical pre-requisite for any workplace that wants to bring out the best in people.

Also as part of the Tackling Childcare Pakistan initiative, IFC and PBC conducted an analysis on the current state of family-friendly workplaces and policies such as childcare in Pakistan. In the research, 27 percent of employers offered some type of childcare support to their employees. Among those that did not offer support, nearly half (48 percent) said they did not see the need or benefit of doing so, pointing to low levels of awareness about the business case for employer-supported childcare.

But as the IFC-PBC report shows there is action that can be taken by employers, the public sector, childcare providers, and other stakeholders interested in creating family-friendly workplaces and advancing women’s employment in Pakistan. Key ones are understanding the costs and benefits of providing childcare support, assessing the childcare needs of their employees, and considering multiple options for meeting these needs. Support from the public sector, in the form of clear guidelines and incentives for employers, for example, can also contribute to making Pakistani workplaces more family-friendly.

Moving ahead, family-friendly workplace policies can help lay the foundation for more diverse and inclusive growth in Pakistan. The country has set ambitious targets for improving female labour force participation over the next few years. Childcare provision and other family-friendly policies such as paid maternity and paternity leave, flexible work, and safe transportation can enable more women to participate in paid labour, driving businesses, bolstering economies, and improving people’s lives.

Meanwhile, Maria Karim who joined EBM when she was pregnant with her second child, is grateful for the daycare option at work. For a working mother, not having access to daycare can be “nerve-wracking”, which was one of the reasons why she chose EBM. Another mother, Aleena Tanvir from Telenor Pakistan, appreciates the company’s support. Apart from flexible work options, a daycare facility at work “seemed unreal,” she said. Today, Aleena is doing well at work and feels empowered to do more, providing a glimpse into the possibilities for Pakistan’s mothers.

The writer is the Global Lead for Employment and Childcare in IFC’s Gender and Economic Inclusion Group and also co-leads IFC’s Economic Inclusion work focused on persons with disabilities and sexual and gender minorities. She tweets @RudabaNasir