BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Virtual Babysitting Provides Relief For Working Parents During COVID-19

Following
This article is more than 3 years old.

Under “normal” circumstances, working from home and having a flexible work schedule can be a lifesaver — but amid a pandemic, it presents unusual challenges. 

A recent study by Gallup showed that while the distribution of household tasks has become more equitable since the ‘90s, women in heterosexual relationships are still more likely than their husbands to care for children on a daily basis.

They’re also still mainly responsible for laundry, cleaning, cooking and other household tasks that they may have outsourced prior to the pandemic. Without that extra help, more work is falling back on women. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and schools remain closed, many working mothers are adapting to working from home, while still taking on these duties.

According to a MIT study, 34.1% of Americans that were previously commuting are now working from home. The pandemic is showing us that the flexible work revolution we’ve been pushing for is possible. 

But working from home right now can feel overwhelming because everything — work, school, fitness, family time, alone time, self care, etc. — is happening under one roof. It’s making turning off work and turning it back on harder than ever.

Luckily, Sittercity CEO, Elizabeth Harz, has a solution to give working moms and dads a break while still adhering to social distancing guidelines: virtual babysitting. 

It might sound like a radical idea, but Harz explained that the genesis was organic and practical. 

She and her husband recently wanted to have date night, so they arranged for a sitter to have a virtual dance party with their daughters in another room, and it was a success. 

With a background working in technology and gaming, Harz said she understands how important it is that solutions to childcare are data-driven.

She and her colleagues married her virtual sitting experience with Sittercity user feedback and came up with a way to offer virtual sittings to the masses through their platform. 

“Moms are just feeling completely overwhelmed, you can’t really virtually clean the bathroom. There’s a lot of things you can’t virtually do, but you can get a babysitter for an hour and a half to play Simon Says,” Harz said. 

She added that virtual babysitting is “snackable” and shouldn’t be used for more than an hour or so, but a short period of time can make all the difference for parents to get some work done or simply have some time to themselves. 

“If you have a six-year-old and want to take a long shower, wouldn’t that be nice?” Harz said. 

Not only can sitters play virtual games with kids, they can help with school work as kids navigate online learning. Harz said some virtual sitters have gotten really creative and facilitated mock cooking shows like “Chopped” without using heating appliances.  

“You have all these families looking for support and help through a challenging time and then you have all these sitters looking for work,” Harz said. 

In the last month, Sittercity has seen a 700% increase in demand for virtual sittings — and the demand is continuing to grow. 

On a large scale domestic workers (including care workers and nannies) across the country are out of work. About 72% of domestic workers reported having no work for the week beginning April 6, according to the National Domestic Workers Alliance

This loss of work disproportionately affects women, as more than 90% of the domestic workforce is made up of women. 

Sittercity serves as an invaluable resource for parents that are working from home and regular domestic workers or sitters — it’s a win-win situation.

While the agreed upon pay rate for virtual sitting is between families and sitters, Sittercity encourages families to pay sitters the same rate that they would if they were coming over in person if they can.  

To get access to virtual sitters through Sittercity, parents can sign up for a subscription normally priced at $35 for a month, $70 for three months or $140 for a year. Sittercity is currently discounting their monthly membership fee by 50% in support of those who have been affected by COVID-19. 

“We are cautiously optimistic, not that any of us are happy about this situation, but that some of these advantages stay with us as we move forward,” Harz said. 

It’s hard to predict exactly what a post-pandemic world will look like, but it’s clear that the widespread shift we’re seeing across businesses will have a lasting impact on how we approach childcare and work in the future.

We’re hoping the warped reality we’re living in demonstrates that incorporating remote work into our regular schedules is doable, rather than giving it a bad rap. 

We’d place our bets on the fact that flexibility is here to stay. And as we wait for equal distribution of household tasks, that it will help ease the workload for hard working women.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website