Shanghai authorities have announced a new initiative encouraging employers to designate parent-friendly job positions. These roles will feature flexible working hours, adaptable work arrangements, and family-friendly policies, catering primarily to workers responsible for children under 12.
The initiative is launched by the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau in collaboration with the municipal federation of trade unions and the Shanghai Women’s Federation. Furthermore, it aims to promote a better balance between work and parenting responsibilities.
Parent-friendly positions offer options such as remote work, home-based work, flexible leave policies, and performance-based assessments. Employers and employees are encouraged to formalise these arrangements in contracts or written agreements to ensure clarity and accountability.
Authorities plan to guide industries such as manufacturing, hospitality, residential services, and emerging economic sectors to pilot these employment models. The initiative includes the creation of a list of employers offering parent-friendly roles, ensuring broader adoption across the city.
Employers are also urged to implement labour protections for female employees, such as maternity leave, paternity leave and childcare leave. Trade unions will support family-friendly workplaces by promoting facilities such as “Mommy care rooms,” employee centres, and parent-child workstations.
They will also organise childcare activities during school vacations and after-school hours to ease the burden on working parents.
The initiative integrates parent-friendly roles into public employment services. Employers will label these positions clearly in job postings, and eligible employees will receive employment training subsidies. Women returning to work after childbirth will have access to retraining programmes, while vocational training will be available for workers in areas such as childcare, eldercare, health services, and internet marketing.
Shanghai’s efforts align with broader trends in China to support work-life balance and encourage fertility-friendly policies.
