Looking for a new job is often characterized as being a full-time endeavor. The same goes for raising children. So it’s no wonder that single parents report struggling with balancing both.

Some 44% of single parents in the US have had to turn down job interviews because of scheduling constraints, a recent survey from career and outplacement services firm Careerminds found. Data also showed that childcare was the primary inhibitor of single parents’ ability to schedule interviews, cited by 68% of respondents, along with school drop-offs and pick-ups, and after-school activities. Two-thirds of parents said they’d considered not applying for jobs because of potential scheduling conflicts.

Caregivers broadly make up 73% of the US workforce, and employers that don’t prioritize attracting them could be losing out on a large swath of top talent, experts told HR Brew.

“If you’re able to distinguish yourself from other potential employers [by saying], ‘We’re flexible, we’re here for you, we understand that you’re a person beyond the laws of this office or this company, [that] really gives you a head start in being able to attract and then ultimately retain that top talent,” Sadie Funk, national director of The Best Place for Working Parents, told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—PM

Congrats! Your org is growing, and you’ve hired some new rockstar team members to help you keep the momentum going. Now the real challenge begins—onboarding everyone fast.

BambooHR reports that 35% of HR pros struggle to help new hires get quickly acclimated to their roles. Get a crash course in welcoming new team members with BambooHR’s Best of Onboarding bundle.

It includes BambooHR’s onboarding resources + tools to help you guide new hires from day one. After all, better first days lead to successful, happy, longtime employees. Here’s what’s inside:

• New Hire Checklist template
• 5 Metrics to Measure for Onboarding Success e-book
• The Definitive Guide to Onboarding in 2024 e-book
• Why the First 44 Days Are Critical for New Hires report

Onboard like a pro.

Rachel Schneider is a former researcher at the Financial Health Network and the Aspen Institute. She studied the financial lives of working Americans and coauthored a book on the topic: The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty.

Schneider is also the founder of Canary, a third-party employee relief platform aiming to provide companies with a way to make a greater impact on the financial lives of their employees.

With $3.25 million in funding from Capital One Ventures, Propel, Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Restive Ventures, Canary offers employees an anonymous, employer-sponsored place to request financial aid when they’re in need. A company’s portal is branded with company assets and requires only a handful of steps to request financial help. Canary’s team evaluates the request based on IRS-criteria and grants those who qualify the funds to meet their needs.

A $2,500 problem. In her research, Schneider discovered that many Americans, despite working, experience spikes and dips in their income and expenses that are sometimes mismatched. This mismatch, she says, especially affects hourly employees and those that rely on overtime pay.

Keep reading here.—AD

Does this work even matter? Why am I doing this job?

If thoughts like these ever cross your mind, it may be because your organization hasn’t identified its invisible leader, according to Zach Mercurio, researcher and author of The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization with the Power of Authentic Purpose. The term “invisible leader” was coined by Mary Parker Follett, the “mother of management,” and describes a shared organizational vision or purpose.

Mercurio shared with HR Brew how the findings discussed in his 2017 book can help companies identify their invisible leader and teach managers to lead with purpose.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the main takeaways from your book?

Motivation, both on the individual level and the organizational level, is the animating force of human behavior. So, it’s almost impossible for anything to matter to someone who doesn’t first believe that they and what they’re doing matters.

Keep reading here.—MC

Don’t let data spook you. It’s powerful information that can help you optimize organizational success for the long haul. Join Gallagher’s two-part webinar series, where subject matter experts will help you understand current HR market trends, effective data collection methods, top drivers for improving employee recruitment, and more. Register for the Sept. 18 event here.