Employer-Sponsored Childcare: The Top New HR Offering

Whether it’s benefits season or not, you’re on the clock. Time to develop practical HR solutions and make your case to management. Next up? Why childcare benefits are a slam dunk for both employers and employees.

We know you’re under great pressure to make these decisions right, to support your workforce, and to contribute to a successful organization.

So why should you fight to add employer-sponsored childcare benefits? Because it turns out that not only is it ethical to support your working families, but there is a strong business case to be made for employee childcare benefits too.

Contact our team to help you bolster your case.

Lack of employee childcare impacts employers

Some organizations not offering childcare benefits for employees might think this will save them time and energy. However, the reality is that not providing employer-sponsored childcare benefits costs businesses in the long run.

Employers who support their workforce with an employee childcare benefits program realize huge ROI gains and end up in the black on the balance sheet.

Childcare benefits for employees are a natural choice for organizations in every industry, with net rewards realized in:

• Reduced absenteeism
• Increased productivity
• Higher job satisfaction
• Improved retention
• More competitive hiring

Working parents without these care benefits show up less, are unfocused at work, and many have to leave their jobs due to childcare issues. The genuine challenges of employees’ inadequate childcare has a negative effect on their overall productivity.

One of the big reasons retention is so necessary for employers is that it costs a significant amount of money to replace employees who leave the organization for any reason. In fact, the replacement cost can be as much as 213% of annual salary, depending on the position that needs to be filled. In this light, a lack of employer-sponsored childcare benefits no doubt represents a highly preventable cause of attrition.

For a segment of employers, offering the bare minimum regarding employee childcare benefits is one way to check the care benefits box

Unfortunately, offering employer-sponsored childcare benefits that aren’t flexible, affordable, or usable — due to location, lack of providers, or hours/services available, for instance — does not work for most employees. Even more troubling, bare minimum efforts disproportionately affect women, minorities, and low-income families, exacerbating existing inequities.

Employee childcare benefits help employees and employers

As an employer offering flexible, affordable childcare benefits for employees, you will come out on top. Both financially and by ranking higher in job satisfaction surveys.

On a very fundamental level, happy employees = happy employers.

Working parents who feel supported are more likely to thrive: they’ll be excited to join the workforce, show up consistently, produce better work, and stay with the organization longer.

Implementing comprehensive employee childcare benefits helps address the various organizational challenges most employers are dealing with — from hiring and recruitment to retention and employee productivity.

Another advantage of adding an employer-sponsored childcare benefits program is the ease that it can be incorporated into your other employee benefits offerings. If you partner with a childcare benefits provider like Upwards, much of the administrative work and oversight is taken off your plate. You can more readily focus your time on other projects as well as employee outcomes when working parents utilize their new childcare benefits.

The right childcare network solves childcare issues

You’re gathering information and building your case. It’s time to explore your childcare benefits options and narrow down your selections to find the best fit for your organization.

Upwards is the largest childcare network in the U.S. and a leader in employee childcare benefits. We empower employers to offer practical childcare benefit solutions to their workforce in order to address complex childcare needs impacting home and work.

Upwards’ childcare benefits for employees include affordable, flexible programs designed to help everyone, especially women, minorities, and low-income families. Our network of vetted in-home daycare providers offers high-quality childcare to families at up to 40% lower rates than traditional daycare centers, creating a tangible difference in working parents’ weekly budgets.

Upwards’ nannies, babysitters, and in-home daycares also offer more flexible hours than on-site daycare, solving the scheduling issues many families face when balancing work shifts and childcare. Our employee childcare benefits programs range from childcare assistance and backup care to full and partial childcare stipends.

• Upwards’ Childcare Assistance program facilitates employers helping families to find and access quality, affordable childcare in their neighborhoods.
• Backup care is an important option to support working families when childcare plans fall through or change unexpectedly.
• Childcare stipends enable employers to offset their employees’ considerable childcare costs.

Offering employer-sponsored childcare benefits is a win-win proposition. Not only is it a way to show employees that you care about them as human beings, but choosing the right programs make childcare a reality for families while also being good for business.

We’re here to discuss your employee childcare benefits needs: benefits@upwards.com.

So don’t delay: Get your working families the help they deserve.