The volume of articles, studies, and social threads are a key indicator of “hot topic” items. The childcare crisis is no exception. The proliferation of these news items continues to accelerate with many calling for employers to answer the rally call.
Yet many C-Suite and HR leaders find themselves in a tricky spot. With tightening budgets and continued layoffs, volunteer benefits tend to be the first on the cutting room floor. In addition, employers who do provide childcare support generally do so for families with “littles” needing daycare and sitter services. This approach leaves families with school-aged kids to fend for themselves.
What often is overlooked is the large group of parents with kids aged 10-18. Per the US Census Bureau, close to 60% of working parents fall into this category. The result of not including them in “family friendly” programs become more apparent as women continue to leave or change jobs in favor of employers answering their needs.
Enter the “Mommy Tax”
The Mommy Tax is a term reflecting the professional and financial penalties working parents, particularly women, face. The tenants of this tax cover the costs of adequate care and enrichment activities as well as professional setbacks.
Syndio, a technology firm helping companies close the equity pay gap, found that in addition to women earning 18% less than male counterparts, working mothers earn an additional 5% less for every child vs. female colleagues without children.
Making matters worse, a recent analysis by Money.com finds extracurricular activities cost US families nearly $2,000 annually without inclusion of summer activities. For families of school age kids, these expenditures end up being fully out-of-pocket due to lack of employer support.
The Role of Employers Can Play
While employer sponsored benefits to support all working parents are thankfully becoming a priority, it should be noted this alone is not a silver bullet. Without legislative action and funding, the criticality of this concern continues to persist.
Tying childcare benefits to employers poses its own risk to families as well. With companies like Google and General Mills announcing center-based care closures and discontinuation of care programs, parents are left scrambling for alternatives. When coupled with layoffs, many parents find themselves without a job on top of no care for their children.
Employers can however play a pivotal role in addressing the Mommy Tax. Access to cost effective, turnkey platforms can quickly and significantly reduce a corporation’s attrition rate, saving millions without adversely impacting the bottom line.
Here are a few practical steps to consider:
- Foster Autonomy, Not Just Flexibility: Employees require different types of flexibility. Working parents needing to be available in the mornings or at the end of the school day to care for kids is part of this. Give employees autonomy to set up their workday as is best for their family. Supporting this goes a long way to building a family friendly culture.
- Train for Flexibility: Many managers have never managed remote teams. Ensuring middle management has the training and tools to be effective is imperative. Recognizing and accommodating the scheduling conflicts faced by working parents, such as school pickups or drop-offs, can make a significant difference. Train managers to be open and flexible to support working parents rather than mandating blanket regulations.
- Provide Options: Large scale family friendly programs take a lot of heavy lifting. Look for incremental, turnkey, and cost-effective solutions that can rapidly begin to offload stress from parents.
Online Educational Marketplaces: A Lever for Change
In response to companies looking for innovative options to support families with school-aged kids, online educational marketplaces have risen as incredibly valuable. Older kids don’t need activities to simply keep them preoccupied so parents can work. Their needs tend to be driven by interest or passions as well as filling gaps not provided through traditional education.
Choosing the Right Solution
One of the most significant advantages of online educational marketplaces is the flexibility and choice they offer. Many flavors exist but for maximum support, employers can look for a few key items:
- Expert providers. Look for options with a narrow set of experts with innovative options vs those with thousands of activities and a broad range of lightly vetted providers.
- Life-skills focused. Older kids have different needs than pre-school aged kids. Look for solutions that focus on life skills equipping kids with skills and support in topics not being offered through school curriculum.
- One-stop-shop. Marketplaces operating as an aggregate of links to external options offer little benefit to stressed out parents. Look for solutions that does the heavy lifting for working families. This enables parents to eliminate the logistics of finding, scheduling, booking, and managing across programs, providers, and transactions.
By providing access to a wide range of programs at various price points, these platforms enable parents to find solutions that fit their budget and their children’s unique interests and needs. This accessibility is crucial in alleviating some of the pressures of the Mommy Tax, allowing parents to make informed decisions about their children’s education without compromising their career trajectories.
A Call for Collective Action
The journey toward mitigating the Mommy Tax through online educational marketplaces is a collective endeavor. It requires the collaboration of technology providers, educators, policymakers, and employers to ensure these platforms meet the evolving needs of families. By doing so, we move closer to a future where working mothers can seamlessly integrate their professional ambitions with their familial responsibilities, turning the tide against the Mommy Tax.
Carleen Haylett is the CEO of EnrichedHQ. In 2020, single mother and technology leader Carleen Haylett witnessed pandemic-driven gaps in the U.S. educational space when her fifth-grade son began to thrive with homeschooling. The schoolwork was manageable, but the lack of affordable virtual extracurricular programs available, which would stimulate his development as a student preparing for middle and high school, was a shock. Torn between motherhood and her career, corporate pressure mounted, she left her job. She founded EnrichedHQ to solve the logistical nightmare of finding and managing options for kids who no longer need day care or a sitter, bridging childcare through high school. Leveraging her 20+ years in technology development, product management, and sales, she developed a platform that offers virtual extracurricular programs for middle and high school age children that enrich and prepare them for life. Working parents are able to find an immediate remedy for this common parental stressor through their employers. EnrichedHQ handles all the logistics, letting parents easily find, book, schedule, and pay for multiple virtual programs for multiple children across multiple providers. Both corporations and parents benefit from EnrichedHQ’s commitment. Visit https://enrichedhq.com/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/in/carleen-haylett-18a5521/