Even though we’re still sweating like mad in the Carolinas and more than eager for fall’s slightly cooler temperatures, for many, an entirely new season is beginning – the start of school.

For most parents, the beginning of a new school year is a relief from juggling summer camps and childcare, but it also means added tasks of helping with homework, driving carpools, shuttling kids to practices and rehearsals, attending parent-teacher conferences and dealing with sick children after they pick up the germ de jour at school.

As a business, you may think this has nothing to do with you, but it certainly does. Even your most committed workers will find themselves needing to be away during the day for some function, meeting or issue related to their children. How you handle these times says a lot about your business and how you value your employees.

While it’s certainly not reasonable for employees to be out every other day for two or three hours, do recognize their role as parents and allow for that. Support the dad who needs to leave 30 minutes early on Thursdays to coach softball or understand the mom who wants to come in an hour late so she can attend her first-grader’s Christmas play.

As long as your employees are getting their work done, there’s no reason they can’t they have some time here and there to be parents. In fact, they’ll probably be more efficient because they won’t be so stressed about missing important functions.

One word of caution: be sensitive to employees who don’t have children. They may be resentful if a co-worker is constantly giving them extra work to head out to little Suzie’s basketball games. And don’t penalize employees without children by not understanding their non-work commitments and interests. Give a little for them, too, when they want to leave early for a nephew’s football game or take their dog to the vet.

As a business, how do you handle these sorts of situations? Do you make some reasonable allowances for family commitments?