Tackling Childcare Pakistan – Creating Family Friendly Workplaces

Pakistan Business Council (PBC) collaborated with Interloop and 12 other companies to form a partnership regarding Tackling Childcare Pakistan: Creating Family-Friendly Workplaces, in Jun 2019. The initiative was built on IFC and PBC’s 2018 partnership focusing on the business case for investing and enhancing women’s employment, tackling childcare, and establishing anti-sexual harassment mechanisms. This peer-learning collaboration (PLC) with IFC-PBC, emphasized on employer-supported childcare, leading to recommendations for public and private sector action, as well as opportunities for multi-stakeholder dialogue to accelerate progress in these areas. Learn more: www.ifc.org/south+asia/tackling-childcare-pakistan

Interloop Limited: Expanding Quality Childcare Support to More Employees:

Hosiery manufacturer and multi-category full family clothing company, Interloop strongly believes that diversity holds the key to a vibrant and sustainable economy. Hiring, training, and promoting more women are important aspects of achieving gender parity at the workplace. Recognizing that women are less likely to enter and more likely to leave manufacturing-based careers, Interloop prioritized its workers’ well-being by instituting a family-friendly workplace, making it easier for women to stay in the workforce and relish a better employment experience. The requirement for on-site daycare centers at Interloop arose when analytics showed that a significant number of women leave their jobs, or are reluctant to join due to inadequate childcare support facilities. This insight motivated the company to start offering on-site daycare facilities at all its factories. During the PLC, Interloop revamped the childcare facility at the Lahore Plant, which is now complete with modern infrastructure and equipment, following international standards and providing a healthy, progressive, and welcoming environment to the children of female employees. When making the decision about extending childcare support to its Lahore Plant, Interloop leadership considered the benefits it would bring to the company and its employees, and allocated a dedicated budget along with a team for speedy execution. Interloop seeks feedback from its employees regularly for improving facilities to make them comfortable, and the working environment safer for children and working mothers. According to Urva Til Wusqa, Sr. Officer Corporate HR Interloop, “Investing in childcare certainly has a positive impact on employee” motivation, engagement, and retention, further improving the workplace culture. Every now and then, feedback is taken from the working mothers. The liberty of meeting their kids during the day, and witnessing children’s development needs being taken care of, proves to be motivation booster for the mothers.”

Interloop’s Love and Learn Daycares focus on stimulating children’s abilities and follow a curriculum implemented in a fun and learn way, by teachers trained in the Montessori methodology. Children at the daycares also benefit from monthly health check-ups by the company’s medical officer. The three Love and Learn Daycares at Interloop are equipped with breastfeeding facilities, and can host 200 children aged 2 months to 6 years. In addition to childcare support, Interloop provides various complementary policies including a Returnship program for mothers coming back from maternity leave, safe transport for all employees, four-month paid maternity leave, flexible working options for new mothers, on-site family accommodation, a scholarship program for employees’ children, house-building finance support, opportunities for family visits to the workplace, and welfare assistance schemes. According to Sabra Kanwal, Deputy Manager Interloop Way-People, “I was expecting when I joined Interloop in 2013 as it had a daycare facility and that made the decision easier to be a part of this company. My son was raised under the expert attention of the daycare team for three years. I was working with peace of mind that he was in good hands, and so was my daughter born after him. A company that maintained an international standard daycare with professional staff is a dream for a working mother.”