Look who’s at office!

The Google generation is uber-smart. The earful about parenting that they received from psychologists, parents are now getting straight from their children. For, these children are quick in accessing any kind of information, which includes information about parenting. And nine times out of ten, online parenting wisdom delivers a shattering rap on the knuckles for parents who let work override family time.

It’s only fair that children also get to see the parents’ side of the story. Some companies indirectly offer children this opportunity, letting them have a peek into their parents’ work life. These companies allow children of employees to spend a day around the latter’s work station. It’s clearly an employee-friendly measure aimed at making the workforce feel at home.

In the Unites States, companies observe ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’ on the fourth Thursday of April. There is information about this day at nationalcalendarday.com.

Defining the observance, it says it is a day that inspires children to dream of themselves in “boardrooms, city halls, union halls and concert halls”.

Microsoft offices in India are now getting ready to roll out the red carpet to the children of its employees. Called ‘Bring Your Children to Work’, this annual event is conducted by Microsoft during the end of April or in May, depending on the convenience of its employees at any of its various centres.

Children experience the work environment of their parents and also get a glimpse into Microsoft products. And well, that includes taking a shot at an XBox game!

‘Taare Intellect Par’, an annual event of this nature is part of the tradition at Intellect Design Arena, a product business headquartered in Chennai. The company has been organising it for close to 10 years.

Employees’ children in the age group of seven to 13 years are invited to this event, scheduled in May. These children get to spend time at their father/mother’s cubicle and also engage in half-a-dozen activities, conducted by employees of the organisation. A session on design thinking is one of the features of this programme.

It is offered because children can apply it in their studies too.

“Children are made to approach a problem and taught to solve it, to help them shape their thinking process. It also serves as a preparation for the workplace of tomorrow,” says Vijay Kumar R., senior vice-president (HR), Intellect Design Arena.

PayPal has two similar programmes — ‘Girls in Tech’ and ‘Kids in Tech’. Besides providing children with a fun day at office, they are designed to introduce them to the technology sector.

The week-long ‘Girls in Tech’ programme provides participants with an opportunity to learn various software programs and also shadow PayPal engineers to understand how a typical day at work goes for them.