How companies are helping parents and caregivers with ‘work-life integration’ - The Boston Globe

Pre-pandemic, Vertex Pharmaceuticals senior director of US marketing Kate Booth wrung out every drop of child care she could from the Melrose school system for her daughter, Lila. “I was that mom who dropped her at the library at 7 a.m. before school and picked her up as close to 6 p.m. as I could in the evening, making full use of the pre- and post-care that Melrose offered,” says Booth, a five-year veteran at the Boston-based biotech company. “With the pandemic, all of that went away.”

With after-school care unavailable, Booth’s mother baby-sat Lila, then 8, Mondays through Wednesdays. On Thursdays and Fridays, though, Lila would watch Netflix on her iPad while Booth worked in the next room, feeling torn all the while. “There are so many things you feel guilty about as a mom, and that was definitely one of them,” she says.

Then her company introduced SitterStream, an on-demand virtual baby-sitting and tutoring service that employees can access free of charge six times a month, even now that school’s back in session. Got a meeting and a sick kid? Baby sitter falls through? No problem.

Booth enrolled Lila in a crafts class — to get a Netflix break twice a week — with an on-screen tutor named Amy, and now artwork festoons her bedroom. The service is online only, so an adult does indeed need to be home, but it offered Lila and her mom a welcome respite. “They did cool, amazing, creative things,” Booth says.

Vertex chief human resources officer Stephanie Franklin explained...

Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.