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As the cost of child care hits record highs, more than half of US employers are prioritizing benefits that help their staff juggle and pay for the demands of family and work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some 56% of companies said that child-care benefits are their most pressing issue this year, up from 46% in 2023, according\u00a0to a survey<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Care.com. The new perks \u2014\u00a0from an extra bank of paid time off when a kid is sick to cash stipends for a babysitter \u2014\u00a0beat out paid family leave and mental health benefits as being top of mind for corporate human resources departments.<\/p>\n Companies are reacting to increased demands from employees \u2014\u00a0and especially prospective new hires \u2014 who are more vocal about what they expect from their workplace, Care.com Chief Executive Officer Brad Wilson said in an interview. It also comes amid a back and forth over flexibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s been pushing for this return to office, but we\u2019ve actually seen another shift,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cEmployers are saying, okay, return to office, but we have to give, too.\u201d The\u00a0online child-care platform surveyed more than 600 C-suite and human resource leaders in November and December. It focused on perks\u00a0outside of what are known as \u201ctable stakes\u201d benefits \u2014\u00a0the health insurance, retirement plans and paid sick and vacation days considered standard across much of corporate America.\u00a0<\/p>\n Skyrocketing prices and dwindling options for care are squeezing parents. A full-time nanny can cost\u00a0as much as $56,000<\/a>\u00a0per year in big cities, and more child-care centers are on the verge of closing as pandemic-era federal aid ends. In\u00a0a January speech<\/a>, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a lack of access to affordable care is one reason it\u2019s \u201cstill too hard to be a working parent\u201d in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n Danielle Collins, a mom near Raleigh, North Carolina, said her firm\u2019s emergency paid days off \u2014\u00a0known as \u201cIt\u2019s OK days\u201d \u2014\u00a0have helped her to stay home, no questions asked, when her twin toddlers are sick.<\/p>\n Public relations firm Prosek Partners, where Collins is a senior vice president, offers the six emergency days on top of regular paid time off (Collins gets 22 days) plus an extra day for an employee\u2019s birthday. During one stretch, Collins said at least one of her toddlers was home for 15 days straight: She was able to tap into the emergency stash; use PTO; and trade off with her husband to care for them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can take the time to focus on your child who woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug,\u201d said Collins, 34, without worrying about 7 a.m. rolling around with a full day of work\u00a0ahead.<\/p>\n At yogurt maker\u00a0Chobani<\/a>, US workers get a\u00a0cash stipend<\/a>\u00a0each year to spend on child-care or elder-care costs. Meanwhile,\u00a0Salesforce<\/a> Inc. covers $2,000 for doula services\u00a0so workers can hire night support during the early weeks after the birth of a child when one parent might have already returned to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many large employers, like\u00a0Parker Hannifin<\/a> Corp. and Farmers Insurance, have started offering backup child care through providers like\u00a0Care.com<\/a>. Last year, Trane Technologies<\/a> Plc said it would put money into dependent-care flexible spending accounts \u2014\u00a0usually funded by workers\u2019\u00a0themselves \u2014\u00a0and provide\u00a0access to an external\u00a0child-care service.\u00a0Others, including Tyson Foods<\/a> Inc., have opened their\u00a0own child-care centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a September\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0by child-care provider Vivvi and\u00a0the Fifth Trimester, 42% of people who had considered quitting their job said they stayed specifically because of their employer\u2019s support of their caregiving. When asked to rank benefits they\u2019d use, those parents put child-care subsidies just above 401ks when considering a new job.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a working parent in general is such a critical time,\u201d said Lauren Hobbs, chief marketing officer at Vivvi. \u201cSolving their needs at this exact juncture pays off enormously.\u201d\u00a0A\u00a02023 study from the\u00a0Council for a Strong America found a shortage in care for infants and toddlers\u00a0costs the US economy<\/a>\u00a0$122 billion every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not every employer is upping perks. Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google<\/a> and General Mills<\/a> Inc. each announced in January that they would shutter on-site day care centers, with\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0citing cost cuts and low take-up of the perk, respectively.\u00a0A spokesperson for Google\u00a0said it would offer extra backup care to families using the centers, which will close in August. General Mills didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n And lots of Americans get no help at all. Though\u00a0more than half of workplaces<\/a>\u00a0offer dependent-care flexible spending accounts, which allow workers to stash away up to $5,000 pre tax each year for care expenses, just 4% offer any subsidized child-care center or program, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSick Toddlers<\/h2>\n
Caregiving support<\/h2>\n
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