There’s Been a ‘Fundamental Shift’ in What Working Parents Expect from Employers—These Are the Benefits They Really Want

May 8, 2024 – In exclusive article for Fortune about Bright Horizons’ 10th Annual Modern Family Index, the author interviews Bright Horizons CEO Stephen Kramer and includes top data from the index.

“There has been a fundamental shift in employees’ expectations of their employers. Full stop,” Stephen Kramer, CEO of Bright Horizons, tells Fortune. “Employees 10 years ago felt like they were simply workers to their employers. Today, they really believe that employers should be supporting their careers, but at the same time support their families in order for them to be most successful.”

Working parents’ increased willingness to advocate for their own should send a strong signal to employers about important child care benefits are. And around 70% of working parents say that working for a company with benefits that foster a healthy work-life balance are non-negotiable, according to the report.

“This is really a wake up call to all employers that they need to move both quickly and substantively to offer these kinds of benefits,” Kramer says. “The pandemic afforded working parents some flexibility, that in many ways, has started to dissipate or has fully dissipated in this return to a more traditional [work] environment. Employers leaned in during the pandemic, and are now leaning back out, but are not placing supports to compensate for that change.”

Read the article here.