How To Solve Childcare Challenges for Your Hospitality Employees

Even in the best-case scenario, childcare is still tough. For families, of course. For caregivers. For employees. For employers, too. How about hospitality workers who work evening, weekend, or overnight shifts? It’s a grind.

Hospitality employees need to solve unique childcare challenges more than most employees and those working families managing conventional schedules.

Childcare is a complex issue, not quickly addressed by conventional approaches. Fortunately, there is an existing childcare solution that matches the particular issues facing working parents in the hospitality industry.

Home daycares are not a one-size-fits-all answer, as evidenced by their inherent flexibility to provide care during non-traditional work hours. To support your hospitality workforce equitably, an employee childcare benefits program featuring the built-in flexibility of home daycares is critical.

Schedule a call with Upwards to learn more about how employee childcare benefits and home daycares can support your working parents.

Hospitality workers need employer support with childcare

Think about the challenges a typical working family faces when tackling childcare. There is finding an open spot or available caregiver in the first place. The childcare arrangement needs to be within the family’s budget, of course. Ideally, the daycare is reasonably close to home or work. Perhaps it’s a nanny or babysitter providing care at the family’s own home.

And there are other issues, too, but what about the scheduling? Many daycare centers are only open during standard business hours, roughly 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. So all those obstacles every working parent deals with are compounded exponentially for hospitality workers searching for childcare.

So which type of hospitality employees are working non-traditional hours? This covers employees of:

• Hotels
• Bars
• Cafes
• Restaurants
• Clubs
• Quick-service restaurants
• Catering companies; and
• Casinos

Those are but a few of the people juggling challenging schedules and in need of flexible childcare benefits.

In addition to being valuable employees, these workers fill integral roles in keeping our economy and society running smoothly. Without their crucial contributions, daily life would look much different — and we’d all find things to be much less hospitable.

As a hospitality employer thinking about adding an employee childcare benefits program, the unique needs of your working families will likely be a prime consideration of any plan you decide to implement.

Hospitality employees’ specific scheduling creates distinctive stresses on working parents. They are in serious need of employer-sponsored childcare benefits to help them access high-quality, affordable care for their children.

How do home daycares solve childcare challenges?

You may be wondering what is so special about home daycares and why they are relevant to hospitality employees. As we dive into the details a bit more, it will become apparent that this type of childcare is a great match for working parents in the hospitality industry.

How does a home daycare differ from other daycares? Also known as family childcare or in-home daycare, home daycares are state-licensed childcare facilities that are run out of a provider’s own home.

These local home daycare providers may not be on everyone’s childcare radar, however, they are located in urban, suburban, and rural areas throughout the country. They are your neighbors. Your customers. And your community’s fellow parents.

Home daycare providers have more control over their schedules and can offer added flexibility because they are operating small businesses out of their homes. As a result, more home daycares can provide childcare beyond the limited 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. window typically offered at most large daycare centers.

At home daycares, working parents can take advantage of earlier drop-off times and later pick-up times. With certain home daycare providers, there is even the potential of utilizing evening, weekend, and overnight care. These options can be total game changers for hospitality employees, allowing them to secure care during their entire shifts.

Beyond more inherently flexible schedules, other features of home daycares include:

• Greater affordability: Home daycares are up to 40% more affordable (on average) than larger daycare centers. Employee childcare benefits programs featuring home daycares are also more affordable and cost-effective for employers.
• Care coverage for school-aged children: Many childcare centers and daycares only accommodate children up to age 5. This doesn’t cover many families with very real childcare needs for their school-aged children. Fortunately, most home daycares can provide care for children up to age 12, who still need to be supervised during non-school hours, as well as over summer break and the holidays.
• Much more convenient locations: Working families can often discover multiple home daycare options close to where they live. This is far more preferable than being limited to commuting to a lone daycare center that might not be all that close to home or work. For this reason, home daycares can provide a significantly more convenient childcare experience.

Hospitality employees need childcare benefits

Hospitality workers are facing the unfortunate truth that not all types of childcare will work as an effective solution. By extension, hospitality employers attempting to offer employee childcare benefits are running into the same realization.

One example is traditional on-site daycares, which do not cater to working families juggling unconventional schedules, overnight shifts, and the accompanying childcare responsibilities that entails. Accordingly, on-site daycare centers are not generally considered to be a viable option for most hospitality employees.

Similarly, traditional childcare benefits for employees might be lacking due to an absence of coverage other than basic care. Hospitality employees seeking childcare during non-traditional hours and services beyond basic care are being left out of the equation. They need a comprehensive employee childcare benefits program that includes emergency/backup care.

Working evening, early morning, and overnight hours already complicates family life, with childcare feeling stressful even under the best circumstances. Employees who can’t access affordable childcare may reach their breaking point and feel like they must leave their job to care for their families.

In-home daycares for your employees

Home daycares offer more flexible childcare options that help hospitality employees balance family and work, unlike traditional on-site daycare centers.

Suppose you are an organization thinking about supporting your whole workforce, including working parents managing unconventional schedules. In that case, it’s recommended that you opt for an employee childcare benefits program that features the inherent flexibility found with home daycare providers.

With most working families searching for an affordable childcare option, home daycares tend to be a more realistic budget fit for the range of hospitality employee salaries. As an organization offering childcare benefits for employees, selecting a program that includes home daycares will be more inclusive and supportive of your diverse workforce.

Finding a childcare network that fits the bill

As you narrow down your employee childcare benefits choices, selecting the right childcare network becomes central to the success of your program.

Upwards has cultivated the largest network of childcare providers in America and is a leader in the childcare benefits arena. Our network is powered by over 6,000 licensed home daycare providers, with an additional 50,000+ nannies and babysitters. We leverage technology to design affordable employee childcare benefits for all organizations seeking to support their working families.

We offer flexible employee childcare benefits programs for hospitality organizations to implement, ranging from childcare stipends and childcare assistance to backup care.

Upwards’ Childcare Assistance program encourages employers to help families locate and access affordable, quality childcare around their neighborhoods. Backup care is an important option to support families when childcare plans change unexpectedly. Childcare stipends (full and partial) allow employers to help offset their employees’ childcare costs.

As you evaluate the specific needs of your working families, you can customize your employee childcare benefits program to cover the offerings that best fit your unique hospitality workforce.

Our team is always available at benefits@upwards.com to answer any questions or comments about employer-sponsored childcare benefits.

We’re here to help when you’re ready to close out your childcare tab and start offering these very hospitable new employee benefits.