Children ride hoverboards at a kindergarten in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province on April 21, 2023. Photo: VCG

Shanghai authorities recently issued a notice encouraging employers to designate positions with flexible working hours, adaptable work styles, and family-friendly environments as parent-friendly positions, primarily aimed at workers responsible for caring for children under age of 12, thepaper.cn reported on Friday.

The issue was recently released by Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the municipal federation of trade unions in Shanghai, and Shanghai Women's Federation.

Parent-friendly positions offer a flexible work system, enabling employers to implement measures such as flexible working hours, remote or home-based work, adaptable leave policies, and performance-based assessments, tailored to their operational and management needs.

These measures aim to facilitate a balance between work and parenting responsibilities for employees. Relevant rights and obligations, once clarified through consultation between the employer and employee, should be incorporated into the employment contract or formalized in a written agreement, according to the report.

Relevant departments, including human resources and social security and women's federations, will focus on guiding industries such as manufacturing, accommodation and catering, and residential services, as well as new economic forms, to pilot the parent-friendly position employment model, thereby expanding the availability of parent-friendly positions.

The notice said Shanghai will establish a list of employers offering parent-friendly positions. Human resources and social security departments at all levels should urge employers to strictly implement special labor protections for female employees, including maternity leave, birth reward leave, paternity leave, and childcare leave, according to the report.

Trade union organizations at all levels should support employers in creating family-friendly workplaces, promoting the development of "Mommy care rooms," employee centers, and parent-child workstation for employees, as well as organizing childcare activities during winter and summer vacations and after-school hours to help employees alleviate parenting pressure.

The notice requires that parent-friendly positions be included in public employment services, with relevant employment training subsidy policies implemented as outlined. Dedicated sections for parent-friendly position recruitment should be established, with these positions clearly labeled when employers post job listings, thepaper.cn reported.

According to the notice, employers offering these positions should prioritize postnatal return-to-work retraining for women re-entering the workforce after childbirth. Workers in parent-friendly positions who participate in vocational training and assessments are eligible for corresponding skill development subsidies.

At the same time, human resources departments will also support vocational schools, social training institutions, and others in conducting vocational skill training in areas such as elderly care, domestic services, infant care, health care, as well as internet marketing and multimedia operations.

In a bid to support work-life balance for mothers and support a fertility-friendly society, the port city of Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province has also launched a "mommy position" program, offering flexible job opportunities tailored to the needs of working moms, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Global Times