The global initiative was started by LinkedIn four years ago after research found that more than one in three parents have no idea what their children actually do for a living. Since then tens of thousands of parents from hundreds of companies around the world have joined LinkedIn to celebrate the day - and help bridge the generational gap when it comes to the world of work.
The UK has one of the highest skilled workforces in the world but has a low level of employment among the over 50s. And with the retirement age rising, and the ‘gig economy’ creating more and more portfolio careers, Bring In Your Parents Day (BIYP) is a way of encouraging greater sharing of skills across generations and a small step connecting older workers with new opportunities in the workplace.
“At LinkedIn, we’re thrilled to have championed this global movement to get parents into the workplace for the last four years,” said Darain Faraz from LinkedIn.
“By helping people to re-engage with the world of work we can not only say ‘thank you’ to our parents for supporting us in our careers, but we can also help to inspire people to look again at career opportunities and to share their skills and experience more widely.”
Judith Everett, Chief Operating Officer for The Crown Estate who are taking part this year commented, “Really successful businesses want to go further than shaping a high performing culture, they want to be known as great places to work and thrive to attract and retain the best talent. ‘Bring In Your Parents Day’ is an excellent opportunity for our employees to show their parents what they do every day, as well as bring together different parts of our business.”
More than 30 companies are already signed up to take advantage of the opportunity to engage employees by improving understanding between staff and their parents. Businesses taking part in the UK include The Crown Estate who have 457 employees and ASOS who have 2,716 employees across their UK offices, and 1,703 in their London HQ.
“’Bring In Your Parents’ is a great initiative for us here at ASOS. Being an online-only global company, we have such a huge variation of different roles across our business and often create new positions which didn’t exist a few years ago to cater to the quickly evolving industry.
“When chatting to our ASOSers about family they often say ‘my parents or loved ones have no idea what I do’, so BIYP is a great opportunity to show the most important people in our lives what we do every day,” said Holly Middlemiss, Talent Brand & Engagement Partner at ASOS.
LinkedIn’s Bring In Your Parents Day will be held in 17 countries: the United Kingdom, United States, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Australia, India, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, China, Japan and Hong Kong, and it is encouraging businesses and individuals worldwide to take part in the day.
To find out more about Bring in Your Parents Day visit www.biyp.linkedin.com or join in conversations on Twitter with #LinkedIn #BIYP.
