Bring Your Parents to Work Day Is a Good Thing. No, Really. LinkedIn thinks you should encourage employees to bring their parents to work tomorrow. Here's why that's not as crazy as you think.

By Lisa Evans Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.

Alyssa Schukar for The Wall Street Journal

How much do your parents know about your work? According to a recent LinkedIn survey, probably not much. The survey revealed one in three parents don't have a clue what their children do to earn a living, despite the fact that the millennial generation (those born between 1982 and the early 2000s) tend to rely on parents for support and advice, particularly where their careers are concerned.

To help bridge the gap, LinkedIn is hosting the first-ever Bring in Your Parents Day on November 7th, giving parents the opportunity to see first-hand what their offspring's work days look like.

Richard Hungerford, CEO at BrightKit, a Vancouver-based social media company, immediately jumped on board. "We often joked about our parents not knowing what we do so we felt like this was a perfect [opportunity] to explain what we do on a daily basis and show off our work," says Hungerford, himself a Millennial.

Related: Jobless and Searching for Meaning, Millennials Flock to Mom and Dad's House

The idea began when Danielle Restivo, a corporate communications specialist at LinkedIn, received an email from her mother asking her to write a simple paragraph to explain her job so she could tell her friends what her daughter did. Shortly after, several of Restivo's colleagues shared they'd had similar conversations with parents who felt left in the dark about their work lives.

Restivo says BIZ Experiencess like Hungerford who are working in new fields such as social media are most excited about the day as parents often express confusion about these emerging careers. "It feels like there's a disconnect when we talk about work," says Hungerford, arguing parents may be better able to dole out career advice if they understood what their children did at work. "Parents' role is to be supportive and I think once parents understand a little bit about more what we do, they can act as a support network," says Hungerford.

LinkedIn held a trial Bring in Your Parents Day in their 400-person Dublin office and says with 100 parents in attendance, the results were incredibly positive. Employees whose parents had graced their offices said future conversations about their careers were much deeper as parents not only had a greater understanding of the jobs their children did but had met some of their coworkers and felt better able to ask astute questions and give advice.

As a small-business owner, Hungerford says bonding with family over work is especially important. "We spend a lot of time at work and for a lot of us work is really our lives and our passion," he says. Inviting parents into the office may even help small businesses like Hungerford's grow. "One of the things parents do really well is connect us. Parents [may] say one of my friends has a company that could really use this and I never thought of that before because I didn't know what you did," says Hungerford.

Related: 6 Tips for Managing Millennials (Whether You Find Them to be Entitled or Not)

Tips for hosting a Bring Your Parents to Work Day:

1. Make it educational.
The plan at BrightKit is to have parents come in to the office in the early afternoon, listen to a presentation about the company and offer employees the opportunity to present various projects they work on before going on a tour of the office.

2. Show parents work can be fun, too.
BrightKit's office is equipped with a lounge with comfortable couches and a ping pong table. Parents will be encouraged to challenge their children to a game and relax over a beer afterwards. "It's nice for them to know that it's not all work, even if we're at the office for 12 hours a day," says Hungerford.

3. Take it online.
Parents who don't live in the area can connect through social media. Half of BrightKit's employees are international and have invited their parents to join the festivities via Skype.

Lisa Evans is a health and lifestyle freelance journalist from Toronto.

Want to be an BIZ Experiences Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for BIZ Experiencess to pursue in 2025.

Science & Technology

OpenAI's Latest Move Is a Game Changer — Here's How Smart Solopreneurs Are Turning It Into Profit

OpenAI's latest AI tool acts like a full-time assistant, helping solopreneurs save time, find leads and grow their business without hiring.

Money & Finance

These Are the Expected Retirement Ages By Generation, From Gen Z to Boomers — and the Average Savings Anticipated. How Do Yours Compare?

Many Americans say inflation prevents them from saving enough and fear they won't reach their financial goals.

Social Media

How To Start a Youtube Channel: Step-by-Step Guide

YouTube can be a valuable way to grow your audience. If you're ready to create content, read more about starting a business YouTube Channel.

Starting a Business

I Built a $20 Million Company by Age 22 While Still in College. Here's How I Did It and What I Learned Along the Way.

Wealth-building in your early twenties isn't about playing it safe; it's about exploiting the one time in life when having nothing to lose gives you everything to gain.

Business Solutions

Boost Team Productivity and Security With Windows 11 Pro, Now $15 for Life

Ideal for BIZ Experiencess and small-business owners who are looking to streamline their PC setup.