Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Work and family aren’t two separate lives—they’re one reality. Welcome to Parenting at Work, the podcast exploring the human side of business. Join us for a warm conversation with leaders redefining employee support. Each episode offers stories and strategies for building workplaces that care. This is serious coverage with serious heart.
This podcast is brought to you by Juno, the modern safety net for working families.
Learn more at junokids.com
Jessica Harrah
===
I love your energy. I love how passionate you are about your work. I need you to have some of that to bring back home at night.
And it. Was like a punch in the gut. what it did, and I'm so grateful for it, is really take me on a full journey of what would work life integration look like for me?
Welcome to Parenting At Work, the podcast exploring the real world intersection of family life and the workplace. I'm your host, Max Aldi. We're here to dive into real honest conversations with leaders and innovators who are redefining what it means to support families in the workplace. My hope is that these conversations lead you feeling inspired and equipped to build a more compassionate world at work.
Because let's face it, work and family aren't two separate lives. They're one integrated reality. Parenting at Work is brought to you by Juno, the modern financial safety net for working families.
Welcome to Parenting at Work. I am really excited to bring you Jessica Harrah today. She's the Chief People Officer at KinderCare, one of the largest providers of early childhood education in the country. She has spent over 20 years with the organization, and she's also a mom to two kids, teenagers actually giving her a very real perspective on balancing work and family.
Jessica brings a unique lens supporting working families, both as an employer and as a part of the care ecosystem itself. Today we're talking about what it really looks like, how she supports her workforce, what employers can do better when it comes to caregiving. So Jessica, thank you so much and welcome.
We are so glad to have you here. Thanks Lindsay. I'm so excited to be with you today and, and talk about parenting and work. Two things that are very important to me. Absolutely. And I, I wanna make sure, do you go by Jess or Jessica? I go, I go by either. Okay. Um, so you could call me either one, Jessica, if we're formal.
Jess, if we're informal. Okay. But I, I go by both. Yeah. Let's move straight to Jess then. That, that's great. That's great. I somehow it, my legal self was Jessica. My HR self is Jess, so I like it. Right. There we go. Yep. No, that's perfect. So perfect one. One of the first things that stood out to me when I started to research a little bit about your story is that you've been at KinderCare for over 20 years.
Yeah. Which is kind of rarity nowadays. Yes. Yes. How, how has that changed? How has the company changed? The attitudes changed in that 20 year period? You know, Lindsay, it's so interesting because even hearing you say that out loud, I literally cannot believe I have built my entire career at KinderCare. What I would say is a couple of things.
One, when I found KinderCare and the mission and purpose of supporting. Children supporting working families. It was just this perfect marriage of, of what I wanted to do in my career, kind of a mission and purpose role. And, and, um, you know, for me personally, I started my first 10 years in legal and then spent, I've spent the last 10 years in hr, never looked back.
So, so I've had a lot of opportunity to do a lot of different things in KinderCare, which has been really exciting. Yeah. But when I think about, um, early childhood and the industry as a whole, you know, it's interesting because some things change, but some things stay the same. As a parent, you need to be able to bring your whole self to work, and the way you can bring your whole self to work is by having.
Strong care for your children, whatever that looks like for you. And so that over my 20 years has not changed. The workforce has changed. There's more remote work opportunity. There's more, you know. Technology has allowed us to work in different places, in different spaces, in different ways, but the fundamental piece of parents need high quality care in order to feel like they can be their whole selves in the workplace hasn't Yeah, you're right to be present that right.
More than, than in two spaces in your mind. That's exactly right. So many open folders all of the time, and you're right. I mean, knowing your children are safe and taken care of is, is really the key to being able to do that. That's right. And thriving. That's one of the things that I think about is, you know, it is hard to feel, and this is the balance that I think a lot of working parents struggle with embrace as, as part of their careers, is it's hard to feel like you are thriving if you don't feel like your child's thriving.
Absolutely. And so figuring out how can you find that place and that space for your child to be thriving so that then you can bring everything that you have into the workforce. So starting out in legal and then moving over to the HR side, I think is such a great blend. I love when people have had exposure to different sides of things.
I just, I'm sure you hear and learn so many different pieces along that journey. How has, has that shaped your view on early childhood development and just childcare in general? Kind of both of those lenses, even if it's all, you know, at KinderCare? Yeah. How did that transform. It's such a great question. I think for me, what it has reinforced is there's two things that are critical in early childhood.
Well, multiple things that are critical in early childhood education, but, but two pieces that I just think are foundational. One is you have to. Make sure that children are healthy and safe, and that was a big part of my job in legal it. Thinking about how do we make sure that we are creating environments and regulations that support creating a healthy environment for children.
That's baseline, that is a parent, is what every parent should expect. When I moved into hr. And, and what has been just the great passion of my life over the last 10 years is that creating a culture of engagement and passion in your educators is what makes parents stay and children thrive. And so that is, that I think is what it is.
Um, what I'm so passionate about. Yeah, that KinderCare has really focused on candidly over the last 20 years, but, but I've gotten really involved in that part of it over the last 15, 10 years. I love it. I also can't help but wonder if when you're out and about in your own life, in your community, people hear what you do, they learn where you work.
Do they just immediately start telling you what their needs are, what they wish, asking questions like do you hear back certain? Common themes from folks in the community or in your circle, and does that influence at all the decisions you make as a leader? That's a great question. It does, and I think probably the two most common themes, um, one is, one is industry specific and one is I think, um, more just as a working woman specific.
So the industry specific one is, um, I frequently will hear about how do we have more access to high quality care. You know, 50% of the country is in a childcare desert. KinderCare is in 41 states, um, and dc but there are still so many areas that need high quality care. I happen to live and have raised my boys in a fairly rural area, area.
Um, we're about a half hour outside of Major Metro, but, but we don't have. Care in in our rural area. And so that is one of the topics of conversation that I hear frequently. How do we find more? And then I think the other is how do. Personally, and, and this is a question that will come to me, balance kind of the having, I have two boys, 15 and 19 and, um, and how do I balance in the different seasons of what parenting has been for me because I literally was hired at Kinder Care while pregnant with my, um, 19-year-old.
And so. Through a lot of seasons of parenting. My 19 year old's now a sophomore in college, and how do I strike that balance and, and what does that look like for me? So those are probably the two biggest topics that, that I talk with. No, it makes sense. I'm curious, one of my questions I had for you today was, you know, and you started right off teeing it up for us, like you were pregnant with your, your son who is now 19.
You know, whether it's that situation or another, are you willing to kind of spill the tea with us on a moment you had where you really were feeling that crunch and you kind of had to test out your own system of what that support looks like? Are you willing to share. I am, I love that question and I have a ver a, a defining moment in my life that that was that for me.
So, um, I talked about my boys, I haven't yet talked about. My husband have been with him for 25 years and he has been a huge supporter of my career. We were at an anniversary dinner. These were about six and nine. It was around the time that I moved into HR and man, I was passionate about what I was doing.
I just knew that this was my calling candidly. And so I, we were, we were talking over dinner and he just looked at me and he said, Jess,
I love your energy. I love how passionate you are about your work. I need you to have some of that to bring back home at night.
And it. Was like a punch in the gut. So, I mean, I really am spilling the tea.
It was one of those where, um, it was, but what it did, and I'm so grateful for it, is really take me on a full journey of what would work life integration look like for me? How was I going to be able to be fully present at work because I need to be, and I'm passionate and I wanna be. But also fully present at home.
And we went on to, to have a conversation. And honestly, part of it was you travel a lot. That's fine. I love that. What I need is when you're home, you're home. And, and the way that I have taken that is really, and, and as my career has grown and has, I've matured as a leader, really thought about how am I fully present in each moment that I'm in?
Whether it's conversations with someone with my team. Parenting by boys out at dinner with my husband, um, with friends. But like that presence and is, is just such a critical part and it's a skill and I'm not, I haven't mastered it. My boys still say mom's glitching right now sometimes. But, but it, but that was a, that was a transformative moment for me because it helped me figure out what does integration look like?
And it really, you touched on it earlier in saying that in order for parents to really feel like they can be present at work, they have to feel like they have a wonderful safe space for their children where their children are thriving. You know? So it all kind of feeds into each other. And you know, something that I.
Often think about, I know that you talk about, you have shared on other podcasts and in, you know, things that I've read that you have written. Yeah. Talking about the way that we view childcare. That's right. And I think there's like still in my ideal world, a shift that will happen from taking that from it's a perk and something that is advertised is like a shiny thing.
Thing to come work at a company versus a part of the infrastructure of, like, this is as you, you know, using your words about the baseline piece, right? Like, this is our baseline, this is the expectation that we need to have as a company. And, you know, is that, does that feel right to you? Is that how you see things?
Yes, Lindsay. I think it, I think it kind of ties together some of the conversations we've had around, um. You know, when we, we know that parents need high quality care in order to thrive and be most productive. And in fact, KinderCare, um, does a parent confidence survey every year. And one of the things that we hear from parents is that increasingly there is an expectation that some type of childcare benefit is being offered by a company.
One of the things I like to say is that you would not begin to think as a employer of choice to not not offer healthcare benefits at this point. But many companies don't offer a childcare benefit, and the reality is that we know that companies that hire. Offer a childcare benefit, allow their employees to bring their whole selves to work to thrive.
They are more productive. They are more likely to stay with the company. And so one of the things that I fundamentally believe with this. Generation that is now entering the workforce and starting to have children, is that there is an expectation that companies see them as their full selves, and part of that is offering a benefit in to support their family.
Absolutely. So completely on the same page with this, what do you think holds up companies from the, whether it's the employer themselves or the policy makers from still really treating this as a perk versus infrastructure? It's such a great question. I think part of it is, it's, it's complicated. What does it look like to have offer this benefit?
The healthcare industry has figured it out, right? Uh, you're getting emails all the time about different options. I think one of the things that, um, KinderCare brings that, again, I'm so proud of when you think about supporting working families is. The opportunity to think about what are the options, and there are a lot of options.
You know, there are, we have companies that build a childcare center on site and that is everywhere from in major metro areas. We have a company in, in the rural Midwest that is manufacturing and was having trouble getting. To work and stay and retain employees, and they build a childcare center and now.
Not only are they able to staff their manufacturing company, but they're also doing it in a way that helps their employees to thrive. So, so that's one example, but there are lots of others. Yeah. There's discounts, there's, and that is, and figuring out what works best for your organization, I think is, is sometimes complex as a head of, as a head of hr.
Absolutely in my family, uh, you know, my husband and I have one little boy, Owen, who's nine, and he was born, uh, with a very rare disease. So very medically complex. Yes. Uh, and you know, I think about what that early period of time was for Ben and I, you know, we're both very different. I'm very extroverted. I share clearly all the things.
He's very private. Virtually overnight we went from, uh, you know, a two income household to one, and all the pressure was on my husband, uh, you know, we were in the nicu. It was just, it was a very stressful time. And, you know, I think as I've had a chance to reflect about Ben's experience and, you know, he didn't go.
Back to work and tell HR the details of what's happening. You know, he filled out the paperwork, he did the things. He didn't ask for flexibility. He was literally just trying to survive that moment. And when I've gone back to ask him, I know you're private. But why didn't you ask for anything else? Like was there anything they could do?
And his comment to me is always, well, there was nothing they could have offered me. So there was no point in exposing myself as kind of going through this really difficult time that just felt too vulnerable and. Know, I, I just, I think about that, you know, as an HR professional, as a leader in HR and of people, uh, there's, there's more people like him out there.
How does somebody in a leadership position kind of bridge that gap with those employees who feel like there really isn't anything? Or I don't know what to ask for, you know, how do you stay in touch at those different levels? Um, Lindsay, that is such a great question and, and I think I'd answer it in two ways.
One is a systemic one, and one of the things that I think can send a very clear message to your employees about your willingness to view them as a whole person is a very benefits package. Saying things like we offer a childcare discount. I have heard from employees who don't have children, but who say, I love that our organization does that.
Because what that says is we welcome parents who we welcome and, and. So that is, I think, thinking about how do you structure a benefit your benefits program to say, at KinderCare we also, for example, offer free mental health care to everyone in the family, not just our employees. Again, that is, I think, sending a message that we, we want you to bring your full self.
We understand that you are someone outside of. Four walls of, of our company. So, so that's number one. Number two is, is a little more personal and I think it, it is really, truly, um, leadership behaviors. You know, at KinderCare we just celebrated, um, receiving Gallup's Great Workplace Award for the 10th year in a row.
And part of why. We are celebrating that and part of why it is so foundational to who we are is we're a culture of listening to our employees. And whether that's round tables, whether that's individual conversations, we expect our leaders and, and actually thrive in a culture that says. How are you today?
How was your week? What do you need from me? And so it, it's this culture of engagement and, and that's created, starts at the top, but it also is each leader at a time. And so, you know, I think about your husband and you know. He wasn't maybe going to go forward and ask for it, but he had a leader who said, what do you need?
There's, there's ways to open the door, you know? Certainly. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Yeah. You know, I also look at how huge KinderCare is, and I know that you, you're sharing about the ways that you have communication, surveys, different things like that. You are, you're really supporting people that are on the front lines.
You know, and then you who have to be at work in person, right? They cannot be, you know, commuting into work on Zoom or, you know, they don't have as many options, I guess is what I'm saying. Yes. So when you're looking at equity and creating options for your, your teams, how does that look? It's such a great question because it is something I think a lot about.
You know, I, I mentioned earlier work life integration. Mm-hmm. Work life integration for me who sits in an office, uh, if it's a non-travel week, maybe running out to Costco for an hour and a half over my lunch breaks, so I'm ready to host a football team. Yeah. At night our teachers. Who are 40,000 strong across the country, don't have that option.
Their children are depending on them to be in the classroom all day. But one of the things we're exploring for our teachers, which, which I love is working. Four days a week versus five days a week because then you maybe have a day in the middle of the week, a day on either end to allow you to get errands done, get the laundry done.
So then you have the weekend to be fully present doing what is important to you and, and feels your bucket. So I think in my mind, the important. Piece is thinking of it's highly personal. What is work life integration? What does it look like? But thinking about how do you meet each of your team members and your, your groups and, and really be thinking about what can it look like for them?
That's great. I'm. Curious if you would be interested in sharing a bit about how the shift, you know, kind of in a world that is now very much post COVID where we are shifting kind of back and forth between our people doing the in-person in the office. Obviously we talk about in the classroom that's on option.
Um, in, I think that this also very much to me ties into, uh, you know, a lot of times the parenting load. Plans on moms. Yes. And so what have you seen now that we've kind of come out, I am almost afraid to even jinx it and say, so I know we're farther away from COVID and the lessons we learned there, how is this shaping the workforce in the sense of, you know, what that looks like for the parents, for the moms that are kind of oftentimes picking up a bigger piece of that pie.
Yeah, I think it's such a great question and I do love the comment about, um, moms, you know, one of the reasons I love my work here at KinderCare is number one, 95% of our workforce is women. And so when we think about how are we supporting within our own four walls, um, are our teams, um, it's something we think a lot about.
But then also, you know, working families and, and moms. Two things that I'm seeing that, that are really in the post COVID world. One is a desire for more part-time options. Mm-hmm. So historically, you know, there was very much a, you know, kinda nine to five, eight to five sort of five days a week sort of x.
Expectation. And I think now what, what we're seeing is there are more part-time options. There's more gig work. Yeah, there's more that, so thinking about how are we meeting the workforce there? The second thing that I am seeing and, and this goes I think directly to your questions of moms, there's also, um, at times a.
Given that there's more remote work, the question of well do, should I really be taking my C child into early childhood education should or should I be keeping 'em home with me? And the reality is, number one, when you think about a child thriving and having an incredibly rich experience, early childhood education is the place where they can thrive.
And even more so for as, as women are growing their career, the idea of having to both be in front of a computer and managing a workload while also trying to have a two or 3-year-old in the background is not setting either of you up for to thrive. And so that is one of the places that I will have some conversations around.
Yeah, you could keep someone home, but is it the best for. Child and is it the best for you? And, and that is a really honest, um, conversation to have, I think. I appreciate hearing you say all of these things so much. I have to say that like one of the things to me that I'm really taking away from this conversation is hope.
I mean this, this just really, um, is inspiring to me to hear you say these things and to be really walking the walk. Uh, again, you know, I mentioned I had had to step out of the workforce and I think that. Some of the blessing in disguise of COVID was it did kind of flip things upside down. It did shake things up.
So it did create a world where, uh, some of us who are caregiving are able to participate in the workforce in di uh, different ways that were not available to us. And, uh, sometimes just. Thinking back into, uh, the way it used to be. Yes. And the things that, you know, even I was told about what my options would be.
Yes. It was pretty gut wrenching. It wasn't, it was not inspiring and it was really sad. And so to. Hear you talking about the way that leaders are thinking about this now feels fresh. It feels right. It feels like you really see the people in your community and that is huge and I'm so appreciative of that.
If you had a chance to speak to other HR leaders that may be listening today, what advice might you have for them? Well, first of all, thank you for saying that and um, thank you for the conversations that you're driving because I think, I mean, just. The explosion of podcasts and how it allows us to learn and, and think is, is really exciting.
So I really appreciate the conversations you're driving. I would say listen to your employees and let them tell you about what they need, and then figure out how to get it for him because you can and, and you are in this position where you can innovate. We are in a moment where. We have that opportunity to do it.
And, and candidly, the workforce of the future expects it. So the days of just offering a good solid healthcare program do not make you an employer of choice. What makes you an employer of choice is saying, I see you. I see who you are. And, and particularly for employees who have children offering a healthcare benefit, which is.
Really, truly saying, we see what is most important to you outside of the workforce, and we wanna support you in that is a way to, to show your employees that you care deeply about them, not just what they're bringing to your four walls. Yes, everybody, listen. Listen to her. She's correct. If folks wanna connect with you, what is the best way to do so?
LinkedIn and happy to, to, um, love having conversations and connections and yeah, find me on LinkedIn. Under Jessica Herra would love to connect with anyone about ideas on, on how they are supporting their employees or, or to talk with them about ways to think about how can we offer childcare as a benefit.
Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone for listening. Now let's get back to work, Lindsay. Thank you. It's great to talk with you.
Thanks for joining us on Parenting at Work. If you enjoyed this conversation, please make sure to follow Parenting at Work wherever you get your podcasts. And if this story resonated with you, the single most impactful thing you can do is share it with one other person, a fellow HR leader, a manager, or anyone who believes in building workplaces that care.
Parenting at Work is brought to you by Juno, the modern financial safety net for working families. Juno helps employers offer affordable, impactful, long-term financial coverage for children, diagnosed with a new, severe illness or disability, giving parents peace of mind and flexibility when it matters most.
You can learn more about how Juno is helping companies build family first benefits@junokids.com. I'm Max. Thanks for listening. And now let's get back to work.