We all know about Mother’s Day and we all know about Father’s Day, but did you know about Parents’ Day?
Established in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, Parents’ Day occurs every fourth Sunday in July and exists to recognize, uplift, and support the crucial role of parents.
Today, we recognize outstanding parents, celebrate the teamwork in raising children, and support the role of parental guidance in building a strong, stable society by raising our next generation.
We’ve all heard the saying, “It takes a village.”
At MeetEdgar, we love supporting our parents through our primary benefit of being a fully remote company. Studies have shown that kids do better in school when there is a stay-at-home parent. On top of being able to work from home, we also offer a ton of benefits to relieve some of the day-to-day stress. These things include covering 75% of your family’s healthcare premium (and deals on pet insurance if you have fur-babies), paid leave for new parents, monthly house cleaning, and accommodating child care and families on our company retreats!
Providing family benefits and being remote was a very deliberate business decision for us. On top of providing “value for value” for our team members, being remote helps manage expectations around availability and create harmony between life and work.
Several modern companies have adopted policies like “unlimited/untracked PTO” or the flexibility to work from home. While those sound like great perks, not knowing what the expectation is from your employer makes those perks tough to cash in on. Recent studies found people take less paid time off when it’s untracked. It’s also been shown to create negative competition to take fewer days off. Things like this are what contribute to stressed out employees.
To learn more about how MeetEdgar overcomes the challenges of having a fully remote team, check out How We Tackled the Biggest Problems in Our Remote Team.
Meet some of our MeetEdgar family:
Sarah Brown, QA Lead (Nashville, TN)
MeetEdgar lets me be present for my kids when they would otherwise need to go to daycare so I can work. I can contribute to my family financially and substantially while still spending time with my kids and being there when they need me.
Working from home helps me parent better just by being present. Sometimes, you just need to be nearby.
Nicholas Garofalo, Marketing Developer (Batavia, NY)
Working from home means being able to toss dinner in the slow cooker or get the oven preheated. Not worrying about snow days, sick days, and everything in between means I can focus on family when I need to.
Being a single parent means being a single point of failure. MeetEdgar is respectful of my time (no last-minute weekend overtime) and generous with vacation days and sick time. That means I’m not constantly burning the candle at both ends. Our flexible hours also mean that I get to see mini-me off to school in the morning and be there when he gets out, so I know his friends’ faces and get to hear about his day.
Kristina Quinones, Customer Experience Director (Hudson Valley, NY)
Being able to work remotely makes juggling work and family life so much easier, and MeetEdgar’s family-friendly culture is super supportive of the balancing act working parents need to perform every day.
Working here makes it so that I don’t have to choose between supporting my family financially and being there for for my kids when they need me – it’s just that much easier to be an active part of their lives.
Jennifer Majors, Executive Assistant (Austin, TX)
Working at MeetEdgar gives me the flexibility to work around my kids’ schedules. I’m able to pick them up from school, volunteer and participate at the school, and schedule their appointments with ease. Anyone with kids knows how stressful fitting everything in can be, but having the freedom to make your schedule really lightens the pressure!
Working from home gives me the freedom to prioritize my time and give my kids the time they need in a more direct way than I was able to when I was working from on office and rushing back and forth during rush hour.
Jessi Goodman, Marketing Specialist (Reston, VA)
MeetEdgar makes my life easier by allowing me to work remotely! I have a great work/life balance and I get to spend so much time with my baby.
Working from home helps me parent better because I am here – I get to be the primary caregiver while still providing for her. It’s very feminist ????
Matt Kauffman, Senior Developer (Thousand Oaks, CA)
MeetEdgar is super supportive of me as a parent. They provided parental leave when Wesley was born, which was huge and helped the fam out immeasurably. MeetEdgar is also super accommodating when it comes to company retreats and makes sure the whole family is welcome and supported. On top of all that, the ops team is always sending out cool baby and toddler Edgar gear, and at this point my daughter loves our little Edgar mascot.
Working from home is awesome as a parent. I actually get to have lunch with my kids every day. It also feels great knowing I’m here for them if something happens. Maybe best of all, I get to spend all the time I used to use commuting with my fam!
Lail Brown, Product Advocate (Rochester, NY)
Today is my daughter’s birthday. The weather outside is beautiful. I’m planning to take an extra 15 minutes at lunch today (she’s a slow walker) and go downstairs where she’s playing and ask her to head down the street with me so we can go get a birthday sandwich together. I couldn’t do this if I had to deal with a commute to get home for lunch.
After work our family has an appointment to go get burrito bowls from Chipotle (this is her favorite meal). I know I won’t be working through dinner even though work is busy, because we’re serious about maintaining work/life balance. If I don’t finish every task I’ve laid out for myself, it can wait for the morning.
Alex Auritt, Senior Developer (Seattle, WA)
The main thing that has been so wonderful it is to be so close to the little guy, so often. Being able to stick my head out and play peek-a-boo for a couple minutes a few times a day is probably the biggest perk I could imagine. Also not commuting and saving that hour and a half every day means I get to spend more time with family.
My family also likes having the flexibility to stagger work hours with my wife, Laura. I start early, she works later, so I take Will in the afternoon.
How are you celebrating Parents’ Day? Share your ideas in the comments, or check out these ones from Care.com!
