Take your parents to work? Good for employees, business

• Remember taking kids to work%3F Now it%27s parents%27 turn to see what their kids do
• Almost one in three parents don%27t understand their adult child%27s job%2C survey shows
• Young adults trust their parents as advisers%2C business experts say

Hector Hernandez was in elementary school when his parents — both professors — took him to the University of Connecticut as part of the national program to give kids an inside look at their parents' jobs.

"I learned what they did. I have really fond memories of that," he says.

Now he can return the favor.

Hernandez, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a senior relationship manager at LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals. It is among companies opening their doors not just to employees' kids, but also their parents.

LinkedIn has declared Nov. 7 "Bring In Your Parents Day" and has enlisted more than 20 companies in 14 countries to participate. Company officials say the effort grew out of conversations among employees who said parents are clueless about what they do. A survey the company commissioned over the summer found that almost a third of parents are unfamiliar with their adult child's job.

Google has had two "Take Your Parents to Work Day" events this year at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters; 4,000 parents of Google staffers worldwide have participated in similar events.

On the surface, these efforts have particular appeal to the ever-increasing numbers of Millennials in the workplace who are particularly close to their Baby Boomer parents — and to parents who are more than a little curious about job titles that didn't even exist a decade ago.

But business experts say inviting parents not only nurtures relationships with younger employees, it may well impact the bottom line.

"As the world gets more diverse, this is a way to link to other cultures where involving parents is a way to show them honor," says Ellen Ernst Kossek, a management professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

Google spokeswoman Katelin Jabbari says the idea was borrowed from India, "where parents are a huge part of the overall experience and have long been invited into the office."

In Asia and Latin America, Kossek says, it's not uncommon for parents to talk to the boss. She says the USA has valued more separation between family and work, but inviting parents to the workplace signals changing times as increasing numbers of immigrants enter the workforce.

Parents days are "one part recruiting, one part corporate culture and one part retention strategy," says workplace consultant Bruce Tulgan of New Haven, Conn. Young employees "trust parents as advisers. Employers think parents are more likely to see the value of the tangible and intangible benefits of the job."

Lin Tso of Fremont, Calif., will visit the office of computer accessories maker Logitech in Newark, Calif., on Nov. 7. Her son, Nicholas Wong, 24, has been a financial analyst there for for two years.

"I'm doing it because I care for my child and I want to see what he does," she says. "If there's a day like that and he's inviting me, I will definitely go to show I'm there for him."

When LinkedIn did a pilot parents day in August at its Dublin office, Margaret de Lacy Staunton, 67, traveled 100 miles to attend. Her daughter, Eva de Lacy Staunton, 35, is a regional sales manager.

"I know more about what Eva does and who she works with. I met her colleagues and her boss," she says. "I'm more comfortable talking with her about the challenges and stresses that go with her job, having been there."

"It was an opportunity to share with my mom what my day-to-day is like," says her daughter.

The LinkedIn survey of 16,102 adults included 2,014 in the USA; 1,000 have kids who are employed. Findings show that among parents:

• 29% are unfamiliar with what their child does for a job.

• 81% don't understand what a "UI designer" (user interface designer) does; 57% aren't sure about "social media manager."

• 67% want their child to have a job that makes them happy.

• 40% don't want their child to follow the same career path they did. Just 11% do; 43% say they have no opinion either way.

"If parents don't understand (their child's) industry, they may want them to do something more traditional," says sociologist Tom Buchanan of Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada, who has studied helicopter parenting.

That's one reason Hernandez is eager for his parents to visit LinkedIn. "Hopefully, after this, they'll stop asking me to go back to medical school or law school," he says. (As a "senior relationship manager," he says he helps small and medium size companies use LinkedIn's online tools to improve their hiring practices.)

His dad, Gaston Hernandez, 62, of Mansfield, Conn., is a math professor. "When I look at my desk, it's clear for people that work in the same field of mathematics. I have a harder time understanding other fields," he says.

"I want to see Hector's desk."