The pandemic was a turning point for many who had to balance being a top executive, spouse and parent, juggling multiple responsibilities as they lived the life they wanted to have. Writing in Fast Company, Yoky Matsuoka offered suggestions on how to make work more flexible for families.

Creating such an environment is necessary because a large majority of American parents work outside the home. As CEO of wellness company Yohana, Matsuoka is “creating a culture where parenting and work can enhance each other.” She trusts her team members to manage their schedules and advises others to do the same.

One example of that is to allow them to leave work in mid-afternoon to pick up the children from school. She—and her employees—can go back to the office or work from home after that break in the afternoon, then sign back in to work into the evening.

“People who can manage to focus on what they are doing in the moment, despite juggling many things, are usually the top performers in our company,” she wrote. “When a business can be outcome-focused and weave flexibility into a high-performing culture, everyone wins.”

Team members can also be taught “productive context switching,” which “involves immersing yourself in one task, deciding where you want to stop, then picking up another project to give it your full focus,” Matsuoka wrote. That is not the same as multitasking which, she wrote, is “juggling multiple projects at once and never [being] fully present.”

Making the office a child-friendly place has benefits for all concerned, she wrote. Not only can one see one’s children more often, but the children see what their parent is doing. Making a child-friendly space in the office, or letting older children do their homework in an unused conference room, are two ideas. She also advocated “giving working parents support in child care emergencies [which is] is invaluable.”

Matsuoka also insists on making work meaningful for her team by “check[ing] in constantly to make sure what we’re working on is mission-driven,” she wrote. “It has to be worth it for me to leave my family everyday, and I want my team to feel the same way.”