Why employer-sponsored child care matters

The numbers are staggering. Child care issues negatively impact the careers of 75% of parents with young children, and child care problems hurt the work performance of 86% of primary caregivers, costing $12.7 billion in reduced productivity for employers.

It’s not just the loss of productivity that’s weighing on employers – it’s also the loss of talent. Working parents make up roughly one-third of the workforce. But because more women are delaying parenthood until they’re established in their careers, working mothers are often high-level employees who are critical to business performance. When their careers collide with parenthood, many choose to leave their jobs after their first child, creating a significant drain in female leadership. Working fathers are at risk, too, as many question how much quality time with their family they’re willing to sacrifice for their careers.

Corporate daycare programs can make a difference, helping parents to more easily balance the demands of work with the realities of parenting. Many parents admit they would forgo a higher salary to have a job that’s more family friendly.[iii]

For business, employer-sponsored child care can be a game-changer in retention and recruitment. By building a brand that is focused on supporting the needs of working families, employers attract talented workers in their prime while retaining valuable employees with children or who are considering starting a family.

Employer-sponsored child care from Bright Horizons

More than 1,000 of the world’s most recognized employers look to Bright Horizons for solutions that benefit their employees and help to build a high-performance workforce. We provide solutions that supports workers through every stage of life and every phase of their career. Our offerings include on-site child care, back-up care, elder care, and other employee wellness programs and benefits, as well as industry-specific solutions like tuition reimbursement programs that can power healthcare recruitment strategies. 

Businesses can rely on our deep expertise and extensive experience to develop and manage employer sponsored child care centers. Our services include: 

• Center Development: We have developed hundreds of corporate child care centers across the country. Our development teams will oversee every aspect of center design and development, including budget modeling, in-depth needs analysis, demand assessment, utilization projections, site and facility analysis, and program design.

• Center Management: With over 30 years of experience managing child care centers, our management teams can handle all aspects of operations. From developing curriculum and hiring teachers to managing payroll, benefits, licensing, compliance, and safety, we create custom centers that reflect the culture and serve the needs of each unique workforce.
  
  

The benefits of employer sponsored child care

Employer-sponsored child care can have a significant impact on business performance. By offering child care benefits, employers can: 

• Retain future leaders: Helping employees balance their responsibilities at home and at work enables employers to outperform competitors for the loyalty of quality employees and the talents of future leaders. Additionally, Bright Horizons’ return-to-work programs for moms help to ease the transition back into the workforce, enabling valuable female leaders to resume their careers.
• Increase the talent pool: Family-friendly benefits assure job seekers they’ll be able to balance their home life and work responsibilities, attracting a larger group of qualified candidates to keep the talent pipeline full.
• Enhance productivity: With less stress from child care challenges, employees can invest more time and energy in their work, improving performance and renewing their dedication to advancing their careers and their employer’s business prospects.

Creating custom child care programs 

Not every industry operates neatly within a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 schedule. When establishing an employer sponsored child care program, we work closely with employers to customize child care services, schedules, and curriculum to meet the unique needs of the workforce.

Examples of centers customized for specific workforces include:

• Centers in healthcare facilities that offer long hours to accommodate the 12-hour shifts and odd hours often worked by medical staff.
• Centers in law firms that offer extended hours and deliver on employee priorities for full-time, back-up, and after-school care.
• University centers that cater to the diverse schedules of students, faculty, and staff.
• Centers in biotech firms that incorporate STEM activities taught by parent employees.
• Centers in businesses that offer sick care to ensure that employees in critical positions can work even when their children are too ill to attend regular care.