One of the sessions at this year’s Russian Labour Safety Week was ‘Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Working Parents: Joining Forces to Support Families’ organized by the Roscongress Foundation’s Healthy Life ecosystem.

Balancing work and parental duties – raising and looking after their children – is a reality of life facing most Russian families today. Many parents simply do not have the time to devote to their own health and psychological wellbeing and often start to neglect this most important aspect of their lives. Comprehensive state support for working parents is thus key for the wellbeing of the nation. Understanding the importance of consolidating the efforts of various structures and institutions in order to avoid a perfunctory and one-sided approach to developing measures aimed at supporting working parents, numerous government agencies have turned their collective focus to the family as a social institution.

The session ‘Interdisciplinary Approach to Supporting Working Parents: Joining Forces to Support Families’ was moderated by General Direcyor of Dobroe Delo Social Assisance Centre Olga Postnikova.

“It is becoming increasingly challenging in today’s world to maintain a healthy work–life balance, and supporting working parents is an absolute must. A comprehensive approach that incorporates and encompasses all interrelated fields, such as psychology, sociology, human resource management, and healthcare, is key to creating effective and sustainable solutions. Developing an interdisciplinary approach in this area is more than just a strategy, it is a key factor to success that consolidates the resources of various industries to create a harmonious and productive environment. The only way to ensure sustainable development and the wellbeing of businesses and families is through collaboration and knowledge integration,” Olga Postnikova stressed.

Other participants in the session included Inna Svyatenko Deputy Chair of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Inna Svyatenko; First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation Olga Batalina; First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Family Protection, Issues of Paternity, Maternity and Childhood, and coordinator of the United Russia Party’s Strong Family Federal Project Tatyana Butskaya; Chair of the Commission for Demography and the Protection of Family, Children, and Traditional Family Values of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergey Rybalchenko; General Director of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center Foundation (VTsIOM) and Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation Konstantin Abramov; Sustainability Director of the Delo Group Vera Smirnova; First Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Development and Director of the Healthcare Directorate of the Roscongress Foundation Anastasia Stolkova; Director of the House of the Peoples of Russia and member of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations Anna Polezhaeva; Deputy Director for Scientific and Analytical Work at the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Russia Anna Kontsevaya; Head of the Department of Occupational Medicien at EVRAZ Evgenia Larina; and Managing Director of the Public Opinion Foundation Larisa Pautova.

At the session, the experts discussed such issues as the meaning of the concept of an “interdisciplinary approach” in supporting working parents and how it will help the personal and professional development of Russians; how to implement a multidisciplinary approach to offer the best possible support for working parents; state support measures that can be offered for such families; what needs to be done to prevent the onset and development of the “delayed life syndrome” in working parents; ways for employers to make support for employees with children more targeted and effective; the social and cultural changes that influence the development of an interdisciplinary approach to supporting working parents, and many others.

Russian Labour Safety Week takes place from 10 to 13 September at Sirius University of Science and Technology in Sirius Federal Territory.

The Forum has been organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation.

The Russian Labour Safety Week Organizing Committee is headed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova.

Roscongress Foundation serves as the official operator of the event.

Russian Labour Safety Week official website – rusafetyweek.com