Friendship employees in roles such as sales rep, warranty clerk, service adviser and Internet director have brought their children to work with them, said Alana Wilson, human resources manager for the 10-store group in Tennessee and North Carolina. Friendship’s Hyundai store in Johnson City, Tenn., even has a designated kids area complete with TV, books, Galaga arcade machine and colorful Dr. Seuss quotes and characters adorning the walls.
The space was finished in January, intended for customers’ children. But when the pandemic hit, the room was repurposed into a space for employees’ children, Wilson said. It’s cleaned several times a day, she said.
In Friendship stores without designated areas, children are attending virtual school in a parent’s office or setting up laptops and iPads in extra offices or conference rooms. Parents check on them between customers and during breaks, Wilson said.
Some employees have become more productive with their children at work, she said. They regularly do temperatures checks on themselves and their kids and keep on working.
“It’s allowed them to maintain their position,” Wilson said. “A lot of our positions don’t really have the ability to work from home.”
Some dealerships say they’ve always offered flexibility on the child-care front. That has been the case for Friendship, said Rachel Bays, executive assistant at the company.
“We’ve always been OK with, if something happens, someone has to bring their kid to work,” Bays said. “But we’re even more understanding now and more accommodating now because of the pandemic.”
