There are many ways a parent can teach and mentor a child. One of the most common takes place at home, with a parent reading to a child or helping them solve a particularly difficult math problem. But teaching moments can take place at work, too. An idea that Entefy supports by providing team members the flexibility to bring their children to work.
Around here, we believe in the sort of work-life fulfillment that grows out of a healthy integration of work and everything else. For parents—especially families with two working professional parents—this sort of integration can be a challenging tight-rope walk. Balancing the many responsibilities of work with the many obligations of family life. So to support our team members and their families, we encourage Entefyers to bring their children to work when doing so can help out at home—think teacher work days and summer vacations. The company has found that by supporting our team members this way, everyone wins: team members get extra support and the company benefits from happier, less stressed, more productive employees.
We thought we’d share the story of Entefyer Daryoush and his daughter Donya. Daryoush is Entefy’s UI/UX developer and one of the company’s earliest hires. He has been bringing his 11-year-old daughter Donya to the office from time to time since he started working here four years ago. During her recent Spring Break, Donya spent two days as an honorary Entefyer, helping around the office when she wasn’t working on her school assignments. Inspired by watching Daryoush and Donya interact, we asked them both about their experiences being together in the office.
Daryoush explained how bringing Donya to the office during a school break has many benefits:
“As a father, I always feel the stress of not having enough quality time to spend with my daughter. Being able to bring Donya to work has not only created this precious time, it has also lowered my overall stress. If I wasn’t able to bring Donya to work, I would only see her in the mornings and on some evenings before she goes to bed. Weekends get so busy, too, that there’s not always enough one-on-one time. By spending time with Donya in the office, I’m more attuned to how she’s feeling throughout the day. This has helped me understand her better and be a better parent.”
There is another important benefit to families. Joining a parent at the office exposes the child to real-world work environments. Daryoush explained:
“There are so many things kids learn when they go to work with their parents. It’s real-world experience that they won’t learn in school. It gets their minds thinking about what they might want to do in the future. When Donya is at Entefy, my role is to lead by example and help her see that work can be both fun and meaningful.”
This can have unexpected benefits:
“She gets inspired by everyone being productive around her and I get really excited when I see Donya getting involved around the office. The other day, she asked to learn how to paint in Photoshop, and I had the opportunity to teach her. When it was time to leave for the night, she didn’t want to go home! She enjoys being a part of the team and that makes me really happy.”
Luckily since Donya was in the office, we got the chance to ask her about her own experience:
“When I have a day off, I ask to come to Entefy because I get to spend more time with my dad. I love to learn about what he is doing and I like helping him with his work. One time we made a picture of a face out of a bunch of triangles. It was really fun!
I watch him at work and always think about how cool design is. My dad does a lot of things and I especially love photography. I want to be a photographer! I’m now more excited to grow up and have a job. I don’t feel work is boring when you have a lot of people who are cheerful all the time.”
Happy team members, happy kids, and…happy companies? Yes, indeed. There is convincing evidence that mingling work and family delivers tangible benefits to companies. In fact, happy employees experience a 12% boost to their productivity by getting more done without any measurable loss in quality. As we see with Daryoush and Donya, that’s been our experience too.