Workplace Inclusion for Single Parents
Balancing personal and professional life can be a challenge, especially for single parents. The bespoke corporate services are designed to support both employees and HR teams in fostering inclusive, supportive work environments for working single parents.
For Single Parent Employees
1:1 and group coaching, along with bespoke workshops and webinars - Designed to support single parents in the workplace covering key areas including:
Balancing Career & Parenthood Practical strategies for managing work and family life.
Confidence & Career Growth Supporting single parents in advancing their careers.
Managing Stress & Burnout Tools to help employees thrive both personally and professionally.
For HR & Leadership Teams
Inclusive Workplace Training: Equip HR and line managers with the tools to support single parents effectively.
Flexible Working & Policy Development: Ensure your policies meet the needs of single-parent employees.
Retention & Engagement Strategies: Reduce absenteeism and improve wellbeing with inclusive practices.
Parental ERG & Network Support: Strengthen your internal communities with expert-led guidance.
These services can be customised to align with your company’s goals, ensuring a tailored experience that strengthens both individual and team wellbeing. Solas Coaching’s Workplace Inclusion & Training programmes are designed to help you create an environment where everyone can thrive personally and professionally.
Want to explore how Solas Coaching can help your business? Let's discuss a tailored approach to workplace inclusion for single parents.
TRUSTED BY:
What organisations are saying . . .
“The session was a tremendous success, marked by high levels of audience engagement and participation. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees expressing their appreciation for the valuable advice and support provided. Orla's ability to connect with the audience and address their unique challenges as single and lone parents was truly commendable.”
“Orla’s openness and willingness to create space for these conversations has made a real impact. By fostering a safe environment where difficult discussions can take place, Orla helped many feel seen, heard, and supported. It's not easy to navigate these complexities, but Orla’s empathy and knowledge have made it easier for others to speak up and connect.”
FAQs
How can you help us better support single parents in our workplace?
1
Every organisation is at a different stage. Some may already have measures in place to support single parents, while others may be starting from scratch. That’s why I don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach.
There are a number of ways I can support your organisation, depending on what you need. For many organisations, the first step is an initial session. This could be a wellbeing session specifically for single parents, or a broader awareness session for the wider business to help people better understand the single-parent experience.
After the session, we have a 30-minute debrief to look at what came up, what the key themes were and where there may be opportunities to provide further support tailored to your organisation. This could be further sessions for single parents, 1:1 or group coaching, a workplace review, support for your Parents & Carers network or ongoing advisory support.
The starting point is always understanding where you are now and what would be most useful for your organisation and your people.
We already have family-friendly policies. Why would we need additional support?
2
Many of the family-friendly policies and support organisations have in place are based on the assumption that there is another adult at home to share the responsibilities of raising a family. For single parents, this simply isn’t the case.
As the sole head of the household, single parents often carry additional responsibilities that aren’t always recognised in the workplace, making it harder to manage work and family life. This can contribute to disengagement, absence and burnout.
Flexible working that actually works in practice, a culture where single parents feel able to be open about their parenting responsibilities, and line managers who are equipped to support them can all make a real difference.
So yes, you may already have family-friendly policies in place and this isn’t about starting from scratch. It’s about making sure your approach is inclusive of all types of families and that the right level of support is in place for everyone, not just one version of family.
What's the return on investment of supporting single parent employees?
3
There is a strong business case for supporting single parent employees, it can have a real impact on retention, career progression, employee satisfaction and productivity.
My research found that 55% of single parents surveyed had considered leaving their role due to a lack of support specifically for single parents, highlighting a clear retention risk for employers who don’t recognise this as a business issue.
And it’s not just about retention. When single parents are properly supported, they are more able to progress into roles that match their skills and experience, rather than becoming disengaged or remaining in more junior roles because of a lack of accessible career progression pathways. Without the right support, employers risk not allowing their single-parent employees to work to their full potential. Nine out of 10 single parents stated that workplace support would significantly enhance their job satisfaction and productivity.
Beyond a business case, what works for single parents can often benefit parents and carers more broadly too. It can help organisations become known as a good place to work and as a leading organisation in what it really means to be family-friendly.
How is this different from general DEI or wellbeing support?
4
DEI and wellbeing support are important, but single parents can have specific experiences and challenges that can easily get lost within broader programmes.
My work focuses specifically on understanding the experience of single parents at work, from managing the additional responsibilities that come with being the sole head of a household, to flexibility, career progression, workplace culture and the support they receive from their managers.
It’s not about replacing the DEI or wellbeing support you already have in place. It’s about going deeper into one area that may not be fully understood or addressed within your existing approach.
And the benefit is that the insight doesn’t have to stop with single parents. What organisations learn from better supporting single parents can often help them think more broadly about how they support different employee circumstances across their workforce.
Absolutely. Every organisation has different priorities and is at a different stage. Part of my initial work with you is to understand where you currently are and what would make the biggest impact.
Before any session, I’ll take the time to understand your organisation, your existing support and what you want to achieve.
I’m always happy to work with you and create an offering that is most aligned with your business needs.
The work I do with organisations can be relevant to different people depending on the outcome you’re looking for.
I offer support specifically for single parents through workshops, group coaching and 1:1 coaching. For HR and People teams, I offer awareness sessions and advisory support, including looking at where there may be gaps in your existing support. For line managers, I offer specific training to help them better understand and support single-parent employees.
The best way to work out what would be most useful for your organisation is to book a consultation call, where we can talk through your priorities, business needs and budget. From there, we can plan the next steps.
All of the sessions I offer can be delivered in person, online or as a hybrid session.
I’m based in London but I’m more than happy to travel for in-person sessions, with any additional travel costs covered by your organisation.
Regardless of the format, I aim to make every session as interactive as possible. I want people to feel engaged in the topic, have the opportunity to contribute and leave with something useful, rather than feeling like they’ve just sat through another session they needed to attend.