Spring brings warmer weather, longer days… and a whole lot of schedule disruptions. School breaks, half-days, long weekends, kids between school and summer camps, graduation travel, family visits. These aren’t outliers. They’re the norm from April through early June.
And when you’re an employee trying to do your job while navigating all of it, Backup Care can be the difference between showing up and having to take the day off.
The problem? Most people don’t think to use Backup Care unless they’re reminded or given examples of how they can use it.
Here’s how to spot the moments that matter in spring, and the concrete steps you can take to increase awareness and utilization of Backup Care across your team.
Common springtime care gaps–and how Backup Care fits in
Spring break and school holidays
School calendars vary, but many include Good Friday, Memorial Day, and local holidays, so it’s easy to see why working parents are scrambling to find coverage when they need to work.
Teacher workdays and testing schedules
April and May often come with one-off school closures for testing, professional development, or conferences. These days may be scheduled in advance, but they do sneak up on you, and they’re just as disruptive.
The gap between school and summer programs
Many summer camps don’t start until mid-June. That leaves a potential window where working parents need coverage but don’t have it. Backup Care can bridge the gap.
Graduation travel and family obligations
Whether it’s flying to a graduation or moving a college student back home, spring comes with travel, and often, a need to line up temporary care for older family members.
Five ways to help your team use Backup Care
1. Get ahead of the calendar
Pull the most common regional school breaks and holidays for your employee population and build your campaigns around them. Start comms at least two to three weeks out, especially for longer school breaks or transitions to summer.
2. Make it impossible to miss
A single email isn’t enough. Use multiple channels: Slack or Teams, intranet banners, internal newsletters, even breakroom posters if your team is on-site. (We provide support for all of it–just ask your Account Manager.)
3. Focus on first-timers
It’s possible that employees aren’t sure how Backup Care works, or whether they’re “allowed” to use it. Break down the process in simple steps. Use QR codes that go directly to booking. And include relatable examples like: “Have a school half-day coming up? Backup Care can help.”
4. Keep it relevant, not generic
Say more than “Backup Care is available.” Be specific. “Need help covering May 26, when your kids are off school and you’re not? Use Backup Care.” The more context you provide, the more likely people are to act.
5. Give it a place in your culture
This time of year is a great opportunity to normalize conversations around care and workload. Make Backup Care part of your onboarding materials. Revisit it during open enrollment. Encourage managers to talk about it during 1:1s, especially with teams who may be feeling stretched thin.
Tools like our manager’s checklist for burnout conversations can help people feel more confident having these discussions and pointing employees to the benefits already available to them.
How we help
As a Care for Business partner, you have access to everything you need to run a high-impact spring campaign:
- Email, Slack, and intranet messaging templates
- Printable posters and flyers
- Custom strategy support from our Account Managers
You don’t have to create anything from scratch. We’ll help you tailor messaging to your employee population, align it to key dates, and make the experience as seamless as possible.
This spring, don’t just offer Backup Care. Put it to work.
Your employees are balancing a lot this season. Help them get the care they need to keep everything running smoothly … at home and at work.
Want help planning your campaign? Reach out to your Account Manager to get started.
Don’t have Backup Care in place? Reach out and let’s fix that.
