Up-to-date information on child care resources for UCLA faculty, staff, and students during COVID-19 is available on UCLA's early care and education website.
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Sick leave policy updated for working parents
For policy-covered staff employees, UC President Janet Napolitano recently approved a temporary change in UC’s Absence from Work policy to provide additional relief for parents balancing work and child care responsibilities. Through December 31, 2020, eligible staff may use their accrued sick leave if they are unable to work or telework because their children are not able to physically attend their school or place of care due to COVID-19 precautions. With the UC President’s approval in effect, granting the use of accrued sick leave for these purposes will not be considered an exception to the Absence from Work policy.
Child care and online learning resources for parents
Working parents: mitigating career impacts
500 Women Scientists, a global nonprofit network of women scientists, outlines a number of ways faculty, staff, leaders and principal investigators (PIs) can offer immediate support and mitigate long-term career impacts for working parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few examples include:
- Engage with your staff members to understand their unique needs and work collaboratively to develop potential solutions or accommodations.
- Accommodate flexible hours and deadlines to the extent feasible.
- Consider how team-based assignments might provide support, flexibility, accountability, and professional social connections.
- Be cognizant of assignments that may be challenging, such as lengthy or last-minute meetings.
- Expect and create an environment that is welcoming to parents who may need to step away.
- Model stepping away and taking vacation time and communicate with your team about the value of self-care and recharging, especially when their productivity is diminished.
- PIs should consider the barriers post-doctorate academics face, such as challenges obtaining data for their projects; the cancellation of conferences, networking and job interviews; and uncertainty in funding.
- Be creative in designing data collection procedures to minimize the impact of lost productivity.
- Look for opportunities to promote the intellectual contributions of women, especially women of color. In particular, look at your co-authorship, acknowledgment, and citation practices critically.
