Gabrielle Dumoulin is exhausted. This mother of three has emptied her vacation and sick leave bank to take care of the little ones, who have to be absent from school or daycare because of the pandemic. Between class closures due to COVID-19 outbreaks, screening tests, periods of isolation and the strike of early childhood center educators (CPE), she no longer has any free time.
She and her partner have to work evenings and weekends to make up for the time spent with the children. “We no longer have a personal life. It’s difficult. You choose to be a stay-at-home parent or to have a full-time job, but you can’t do both! »Gabrielle Dumoulin says with a sigh.
This mother is part of a group of more than 1000 parents who signed a letter asking the Legault government to settle the negotiations with the childcare workers as soon as possible. The signatories support the demands of educators who take care of their children, but the strike is the icing on the cake, after a year and a half of upheaval due to the pandemic.
“If the virus is here to stay, the COVID measures cannot last like this. If this is our new daily life, to take care of children at home by working full time, it will take at least 40 days of sick leave per year, ”says Gabrielle Dumoulin.
The Montrealer no longer counts the number of days spent working remotely at home, surrounded by one, two or three children who need attention. Her husband, a teaching student, is doing his internship in a school. If he misses more than four days in class, his internship will not be validated. Impossible for him to free himself to take care of the children at home.
Their 3-year-old boy has passed so many COVID-19 tests that he starts crying as soon as he sees the testing center parking lot. This family is not the only one living with the virus: 964 Quebec schools (almost a third of the total) had at least one active case of COVID-19 as of November 30. As of that day, 3,561 students or staff had a confirmed infection; 654 classes and 21 schools were closed due to the virus.
More than 60% of outbreaks strike in schools or daycare centers. If the first wave devastated residences for the elderly, young families are the most affected by the fourth wave which continues to sweep over Quebec.
Watchword: flexibility
Parents’ mental health has suffered greatly from the pandemic, notes Bertrand Schepper, researcher at the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS). A father of two toddlers, he himself has experienced the aftermath of classroom and daycare closures due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Teleworking with an isolated child at home is one of the new habits inherited from the pandemic. The researcher is convinced that companies will have to adapt to this reality by offering more “social” leave to employees.
“We are witnessing a paradigm shift,” he says. Work-family balance will become very important. The shortage of workers has also changed the game: Employers who stick with the same old mindset will not find employees. “
Companies that resist being more flexible on days off risk paying the price, says Bertrand Schepper. The number of long-term sickness absences would undoubtedly increase, leading to higher insurance premiums.
Employers are keeping their fingers crossed that the vaccination of young children – and a possible third dose for adults – brings back a certain normality despite the more contagious variants. Employees, at least parents of young children, also dream of better days.
Less productivity
“We are constantly adapting because of the pandemic. It’s exhausting. All facets of life are more complex, ”says Roxanne Lorrain, mother of four children aged 22 months to 10 years. Two of them attend a childcare center, the others go to school.
With the succession of closed classes, tests for COVID, administrative segregation and days of strike, there is almost always at least one child at home, underlines the mother of the family. She feels lucky to be able to work remotely in the community setting. She thinks of factory workers, grocery store cashiers and all the others who have to leave the house to make a living. It is not easy for them to take care of their children who cannot go to school or to the CPE.
“We have to think about collective solutions to improve work-family balance,” believes Roxanne Lorrain. Parents need time with their children without being penalized financially. We must accept, as a society, that there are times when we are less productive in relation to the GDP [produit intérieur brut]. “
With the cost of living rising, most families cannot afford to reduce their working hours, she says. Voluntary simplicity – consuming less to work less – often turns into unintentional simplicity for low-paid workers.
Geneviève-Aude Goudreault, mother of children aged 3 and 5, has chosen to work part-time to recharge their batteries. The pandemic has turned his plans upside down: “I am continually in a sprint to manage the schedule changes due to COVID. It hasn’t stopped for two months! “
A kinesiologist, she cannot telecommute. Her partner is in the process of depleting his leave banks. The couple work evenings and weekends to save themselves a few days of vacation. “The COVID crisis is not over. We will have to take a vacation, we need some rest. “