Online summer camps, karaokes and creative sessions by Accenture, SAP and others keep children busy as parents work

• Working from home might be a new normal for employees, but for working parents it is a different ball game altogether.
  
• Accenture introduced virtual summer camp to keep children constructively engaged without hampering the employee productivity. The initiative provides parents online and offline resources for children aged between 5 to 12 years.
  
• Hinduja Global is offering holistic online learning sessions and e-summer camps on an array of topics for children across age groups.
  
• Birlasoft launched a platform for employees’ kids — ‘Creative Masters’ to showcase their talent in poetry, painting, sketching and online blogs.

Working from home might be a new normal for employees, but for working parents it is a different ball game altogether.

As the nationwide lockdown pulls everyone in a remote setup, employees are now taking care of their children without compromising on their work.

In the meantime, India Inc is also stepping up its efforts to address the challenges faced by those working and parenting from home. Companies like Accenture, Birlasoft, SAP Labs, Icertis, Amdocs and Hinduja Global are taking several measures like summer camps for employees’ children, family karaoke sessions, creative classes and more to engage them while their parents are at work.

Virtual summer camp for kids

Under its ‘Parents at Work’ programme, technology major Accenture introduced virtual summer camp to keep children constructively engaged to ensure employee productivity. The initiative provides parents online and offline resources for children aged between 5-12 years.

“We have tied-up with a partner to host virtual hobby lessons for children of the similar age groups, and have also created a resource centre on our Vaahini app with a number of do-it-yourself tutorials and logic based learning activities such as treasure hunts and puzzles,” Lakshmi C, managing director and lead HR at Accenture told Business Insider.

Meanwhile Hinduja Global is offering holistic online learning sessions and e-summer camps on an array of topics for children across age groups. “To ensure that kids don’t miss out on the fun of learning, they are engaged creatively at home through storytelling, craft making, fireless cooking for slightly older kids, math and logical reasoning, and even theme-based knowledge-sharing sessions,” said Shilpa Sinha Harsh, SVP- Global Corporate Communication at HGS.

Creativity, reading and more

On the other hand, technology consulting company Birlasoft is working to develop healthy habits among children with reading schedules — for toddlers, kids and adults via e-books. The company also launched a platform for employees’ kids — ‘Creative Masters’ to showcase their talent in poetry, painting, sketching and online blogs.

Girish Naik, VP-HR at Birlasoft says the grim Covid-19 situation has opened another dimension of employee family engagement. “Creative Masters for employee kids enables them to contribute by writing poetry, scribbling life-enhancing blogs and more. Virtual gamified engagements via apps are also being promoted,” he said.

SAP India also rolled out a ‘Scratch Challenge’ which allows employees' children to create an animation or game using free Scratch software on a theme. For instance, rescue of the blue macaws in Brazil.

“Besides illustrating the main dangers that threaten these magnificent exotic birds, children could also choose to propose solutions to the dangers the macaws face. This initiative is aimed at engaging children to computer programming with fun and purpose,” SAP Spokesperson said.

Employee mental health a priority

That’s not all. The companies are also focussing on employee engagement programmes via quizzes, karaoke, fitness challenges and mental health sessions. Accenture’s 'More Together Now’ initiative extends guidance, support and tips to help parents thrive as the employees “juggle work time and family time in new ways”.

“We also are prioritizing and supporting our mental well-being with Thriving Mind, a self-directed learning experience, based on cutting-edge research from Stanford Medicine.” Lakshmi said.

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