Without childcare, it will be a rough road to recovery

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For parents, the ability to work full-time goes hand in hand with whether they have childcare.

And the uncertainty surrounding whether schools are going to open in the Fall doesn't just have parents, teachers and students nervous. It has economists worried, too.

If schools don't reopen, many parents may be forced to quit their jobs, according to a note from economists at Goldman Sachs. If parents stop working, that could stall the recovery.

Single parents, parents of young children and parents who can't work from home are the groups most at risk of leaving their jobs due to a lack of childcare, reports CNN Business' Anneken Tappe.

And there are a lot of working parents out there. Nearly a third of the pre-pandemic US labor force has kids at home, and about 15% of the work force falls into at least two of those three high-risk categories, according to the economists. That totals about 24 million people.

Last year, the gender split in the US labor force was roughly 50:50 women and men, Tappe reports. But the pandemic could shift the scales back in favor of men if women are the ones who are forced to leave their jobs to take on the additional childcare responsibilities.  

Read more about the toll the pandemic can take on working parents and the overall economy here.

Setting up a childcare facility in three weeks

One way businesses can help working parents juggle all their demands is to provide them with childcare.  

Early in the pandemic, biomedical and genomic research center Broad Institute surveyed its workers and found that caregivers were struggling to manage both their career and their children full-time at home.

So the institute did something about it.

Within three weeks, it partnered with Bright Horizons to open up a childcare facility for employees who were back in the office, as well as those still working remotely.

Not only does the access to care help employees be more productive and maintain a better work-life balance, but the kids are also benefiting.

"A huge number of parents said their child had been very sad and that when they went to the [childcare center] they got to be with little people their own age for the day," Frances Taplett, chief people officer at the Broad Institute told me.

Read more about it here.

Hold the applause

The number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies will soon hit a record high of ... [drumroll] 38. 

Yikes.

Clorox announced earlier this week that Linda Rendle will lead the company as CEO starting in mid-September. She's been with Clorox for 17 years and is currently president.

Right now, the number of female leaders is 36, but will climb to 38 after Sue Nabi takes the reins of beauty company Coty on September 1 and Rendle officially takes on her new role.

When it comes to diversity on the Fortune 500 CEO list, progress has been slow, reports CNN Business' Alexis Benveniste.

Less than 1% of Fortune 500 companies have Black CEOs. And only three women on the list of Fortune 500 female CEOs are women of color, according to Fortune.

Read more about who's in charge of America's largest companies here.

Remote for the long haul

Some companies are changing their tune when it comes to remote working, and offering employees options on where they work in the future.

Last week, real estate company Zillow introduced a policy that allows most of its employees flexibility to work from home indefinitely.  

The company admitted that, in the past, it wasn't a fan of its employees working from home and instead favored in-office collaboration and face time.

But since the pandemic forced it to go all-remote, the company has changed its approach to remote work. 

Zillow isn't the only company offering employees more options for where they work.

Check out this list of companies that are allowing employees to work from home until next year ... or forever.

Coffee break

I am just going to say it: You aren't getting enough sleep.

And that's no good.

Sleep is so important to our health. But it can be hard to come by these days.

When we aren't getting enough sleep, it not only affects our performance during the day, it can also hurt our immune system function -- which is kind of important right now.

Need more convincing?

Check out these 10 ways sleep can change your life, including supporting your mental health, maintaining a healthy weight and improving your cognitive function.

Now let's all pledge to get more and better quality sleep, shall we?