The aim of this report was to highlight the issue of China’s 61 million left-behind children from the perspective of their working parents…[T]he impact of family wellbeing on operations is critical, and the challenges and needs of working parents should be at the core of any company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy…

 • [T]here was a major discrepancy between the migrant workers’ understanding of their responsibilities as parents and their actual ability to take on these responsibilities.

• Financial pressure, lack of sufficient time to attend to children, and problems with access to schooling meant that often the parents lacked the means to keep their children with them. At the same time there were often no suitable guardians back home to attend to the children…

• Parents’ key expectations in terms of support included more flexible working hours (64%), assistance with housing (54%) and access to schooling for their children (72%). However less than a quarter of the workers surveyed felt they were supported as parents in the workplace.

While there is a general awareness of workers concerns at the company level, the assistance offered is still ad-hoc and leaves room for significant improvement. However, in the face of deepening labor shortage and significant challenges with turnover…By taking the needs of migrant families into consideration…companies are in position to make a profound difference in the lives of millions of workers, and to take lead in social services innovation.