Kate Middleton is urging employers to support families and caregivers raising young children.
In a recent op-ed published in the Financial Times, The Princess of Wales discussed the importance of development in the first five years of children's lives and why support is needed for both parents and children to help foster a healthy environment for them to grow.
"You hear time and time again that these soft skills, you know the creativity, the collaboration, sort of the critical thinking, the flexibility, the resilience… You know, these are the things that you'd hear businesses are looking for," Kate said in a video posted to social media in which she spoke with Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland. "And it's really interesting seeing how actually, so often, the foundations for those skills are built in the earliest years of our lives."
Kate said she launched a Business Taskforce for Early Childhood earlier this week to help figure out a way to "prioritize early childhood."
She said in order for this to happen, work environments need to support parental well-being in the workforce, noting that there are 76 percent of mothers and 92 percent of fathers in the U.K. workforce that face challenges "in balancing a successful working life with a nurturing home life."
Kate said in the next couple of months, her task force will look for opportunities to improve this "social" aspect at workplaces and coordinate a way for this to be carried out across several businesses.
"We all have a role to play in building a supportive and nurturing world around children and those who care for them, and it is fantastic to see business leaders placing the subject of early childhood at the heart of their organizations," said Amanda Berry, chief executive of The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales in a press release.
"Businesses play a key role within society and with their huge reach to their employees, consumer and the wider community, their involvement can have a transformative impact on the health and happiness of generations to come," she added.
Kate also stressed that there needed to be a focus on supporting children's "social and emotional development in their younger years."
"As the world becomes ever more complex, we have to invest in early childhood now, as a down payment for our collective future," Kate wrote.
The new task force is a part of The Princess of Wales' new campaign Shaping Us, which focuses on advocacy for early childhood education and teaching people about its importance in society.
