Businesses across the country are becoming acutely aware of the childcare challenges to their business, especially as potential impacts of the “childcare cliff” seem looming. Luckily there are a host of research-backed childcare supports, some even no to low-cost, that businesses of all sizes are implementing. These benefits have also emerged as an opportunity for them to retain and attract top talent in a red-hot labor market.
Recent data from Bank of America reveals that the average childcare payment has increased by 32% from 2019, surpassing overall inflation by 12%. Two-thirds of children 0-6 years of age have all parents (either single or coupled) in the workforce, and COVID’s recent impact on women’s workforce participation has many business leaders seeking solutions to retain their working parent employees.
Businesses of all sizes and industries are stepping forward with solutions to their workforce’s childcare needs via a wide array of family-friendly benefits that not only benefit the wellbeing, satisfaction, and health of their employees, but also support business profitability through increased employee motivation, performance, and loyalty to the company.
Businesses are well-equipped to develop benefits programs and policies that address the unique needs of working parents. The first step to identify a solution for any business is to survey their employees. Surveying your workforce first can help identify which childcare strategies and supports make the most sense for your business. What works for one business or industry may be vastly different for another – so it’s important to start there, with your employees’ unique needs, to make sure your solution is best fit for where they are today.
What options are available to employers?
In response to the rising costs of child care, businesses can offset the cost of child care by offering a range of benefits programs, such as dependent care FSAs, onsite child care, child care stipends, and backup child care, among others. These programs can lead to valuable benefits for employers, beyond talent retention and attraction. For example, businesses can implement a Dependent Care FSA at no cost and save up to $382.50 per employee.
Another inexpensive yet effective way companies can help working parents juggle caregiving responsibilities is by providing flexibility. 73% of credentialed women who left the workforce say they would have stayed for more flexibility. For industries that are able to offer flexible schedules, it can be a very effective and inexpensive benefit to attract and retain top talent, especially working parents. Examples of flexible employee scheduling include aligning work schedules and meetings with the school day, remote work, and schedule-swapping.
For those industries where workers must be onsite for the entire shift, companies can offer predictability, such as providing three weeks of advance-notice scheduling. This helps their employees plan for their childcare needs.
With the pandemic-induced shift towards remote work, businesses have been presented with an opportunity to redefine work culture and adapt to the new normal that better supports their working parents. Recent studies found that remote work has resulted in 50% less turnover, a 13% increase in productivity, and 2X more motivated employees, all of which are extremely valuable factors for business growth.
The Business Benefits of Supporting Working Parents
The reality is, family-friendly is business-friendly in a myriad of ways, from policies like flexibility all the way through onsite child care. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, and successful policies are being implemented across the spectrum from small to large businesses and every industry in between.
For child care specifically, returns for businesses include the following:
- Onsite childcare produces over 7X higher retention rates for businesses
- Childcare assistance, like a dependent care FSA, saves businesses up to $382.50 per employee, not to mention boosting motivation almost 4 times over
- Back-up childcare – or subsidizing care for employees’ sick children – for a business with 250 employees can save up to $75k per year in lost work time.
Even providing no-cost policies like flexibility and remote work show benefits to businesses:
- Remote work has been shown to increase performance by 13% and decrease attrition rates by 50% — in addition to boosting employee motivation by 2X.
- Flexibility is one of the highest rated policies that working parents ask for, and those who have it rate their workplace as over 100X more supportive than those who do not offer it.
Businesses have the agility to solve challenges quickly and are doing so across the country – which is proving to have tangible benefits to their business in attracting, retaining, and motivating top talent.
According to Fortune, workplaces with the most family-friendly benefits have been shown to perform measurably better than their competitors when it comes to revenue growth, employee retention, productivity, innovation, resilience, agility, and customer service. At Best Place for Working Parents®, we see thousands of business leaders nationwide who are proving not only that “family-friendly is business-friendly”, but also that family-friendly practices are a leading trend for businesses of every size and industry that are building a strong and sustainable workforce today, and for the future.
Sadie Funk is Director of Best Place initiatives, which are a collective of initiatives designed to uplift and empower the communities we live and work in by providing research, resources, and guidance. A public-private partnership with The Miles Foundation, Best Place currently has two groundbreaking initiatives – The Best Place for Working Parents® and The Best Place for Kids!® designed to create family-friendly communities and drive economic growth.
Sara Redington is Chief Philanthropy Officer for The Miles Foundation. Ms. Redington brings 15 years of strategic planning, business development, and communications experience to her role. She founded Redington Solutions in 2009, a strategy and communications firm serving businesses in Texas and across the country. Prior to that endeavor, Ms. Redington led both local and international business development efforts at the global law firm of K&L Gates. Today, she connects The Miles Foundation with its mission by spearheading strategic initiatives that amplify community impact, engaging key stakeholders in the Foundation’s whole-community approach, and aligning Foundation practices with its long-term vision for success.. Ms. Redington graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Communications and Psychology. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Zach, and daughter, Emma Joy.