New research from LinkedIn has revealed that while Irish parents are heavily involved early in their child’s career, as people progress in the workplace a parenting gap emerges when it comes to professional guidance.

These findings mark the launch of the third annual LinkedIn Bring in Your Parents Day. The November 5 worldwide event encourages workers around the globe to invite their parents into the workplace to give them an inside view of their working life. The initiative was piloted in LinkedIn’s Dublin office in 2013 before being rolled out across the world.

Commissioned by LinkedIn, Opinium surveyed 1,005 adults from Ireland (685 current workers and 642 parents of current workers) between 26 August and 23 September 2015. The survey found that Irish parents feel they have plenty of potential advice for their children. However, half (50%) often find themselves with an opinion to offer but refrain from giving it. One-third (32%) do not want to interfere and 21% believe their child would be annoyed or offended if they offered advice. As a result, the last time many parents (25%) gave career advice to their children was during the child's first job after finishing education.

The research also revealed that Irish mothers are the biggest supporters of their child’s career, with eight out of 10 mammies (78%) extremely proud of their son or daughter’s career choice, compared to 66% of Irish fathers.

Bridging The Gap

In Association with

Bring in Your Parents Day aims to reconnect workers with their parents, providing parents with the insights and knowledge they need to offer useful advice to their children. LinkedIn’s research showed that half of Irish parents (53%) describe their parenting style as “a beacon of encouragement and advice without being overinvolved”. This is more common for mothers (62%) than fathers (43%) in Ireland.

As part of the study, LinkedIn worked with Dr Alexandra Beauregard, an expert on the influence of families in the workplace from the London School of Economics. Dr Beauregard observed various parenting styles, based on how engaged parents were in their child’s professional life, the types of decisions parents influenced and how this affected kids who have flown the nest. Dr Beauregard has coined the term "lighthouse parenting," which joins other parenting styles people may be familiar with: free range, well-wishing, concierge and helicopter parenting.

Dr Beauregard commented: “Irish parents know they are one of the most important factors in shaping their child's upbringing; however this input usually drops off once they enter the full-time workforce. A big reason for this is parents feel like they know less about what their child is doing. Bring In Your Parents Day is a great way for parents to understand what their chid does and all the useful advice they still have to give. The Lighthouse Parent embodies this parenting style by continuing to take an interest in a child’s career and giving guidance when required – without interfering.”

Bring In Your Parents Day will take place in 17 countries, including Ireland, United Kingdom, United States, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Australia, India, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, China, Japan and Hong Kong. The 2014 event saw 25,000 participants.