Different to most workplace challenges, this threat has nothing to do with employee behaviour - but it has everything to do with their parents, or helicopter parents to be more precise.

Once restricted to playgroups, schools and sometimes universities, helicopter parents hover over their children and fly in to "rescue" them at the first sign of trouble - wiping out any and every perceived obstacle in their children's pathway to success.

You were a helicopter parent during your children's schooling if, for example, you had the principal's mobile phone number on speed dial or if your children's friends did not want come to your place for playdates because they did not want to play with you.

With economic crosswinds making the current job market tight and competitive, examples of helicopter parents landing in workplaces to clear obstacles for their children - even though they are now adults - are spilling out from our workplaces faster than an aggressive wind shear.

Experts believe that around one in three companies has experienced intervention from employees' parents.

Take the parent who writes and submits a job application for her son - without the child's knowledge or consent - or the case of the parent attending an employment interview with his daughter, or the parent who makes a phone call to a recruitment manager to negotiate her child's entry level salary and benefits.

It does not end there. Strong headwinds or barriers in some workplaces require more intrusive and often more aggressive rescue missions.

So consider the parent who meets with his child's manager to complain about the son's poor treatment by a colleague, the unfortunate incident involving a parent who radios ahead to abuse the HR manager because her daughter was passed over for a promotional position, or the sensitive situation involving a parent emailing a CEO to request his son's positive drug test be struck from company records.

This parental hovering is supported by the full complement of real-time communications tools such as text, FaceTime and Viber, allowing an instant emergency chopper to land in the workplace should it be required.

It is clear that helicopter parents are motivated by their overwhelming desire to see their child succeed. Many parents refuse to 'cut the umbilical' cord until they have witnessed their child's success.

Yet they fail to see that their role as parents is to prepare their child for the journey ahead, not to prepare the journey for the child.

The reality is that the more parents crash-land in the workplace, the more they are robbing a child of their adulthood and damaging their child's chance of leading a fulfilling working life.

After all, it is true to say that most employers are looking for workers who are able to navigate the workplace independently - not those who require constant propping up.

But in a remarkable twist to this emerging challenge, some companies have opted to embrace their employees' stifling relationships with their parents by launching "Take Your Parents to Work" days - a bit like the old parent-teacher nights.

The other option - and one that is far more palatable for most employers - is to ban parents outright from our workplaces, or at least make sure they have a very limited presence.

After all, too many parents in the workplace will be awfully distracting, right?

Regardless of which airspace your employer chooses to occupy, do not be surprised when one of your colleague's parents lands on the helipad in your workplace to assist their child with a special project - a bit like a parent used to front up to primary school to lend a hand.