A great shift is underway in the world of work.
With 73% of employees having a caregiving responsibility, a growing number of organizations have expanded their benefits offerings to meet increasing demands for family care—with a real impact for the employee and business.
Family care programs benefit employees and employers alike. When employees’ care needs are met, they gain peace of mind and personal flexibility, allowing them to fully engage at work. In turn, employers see reduced absenteeism, enhanced productivity, and better overall business outcomes.
The most effective programs address three complex barriers: accessibility, affordability, and quality. At Bright Horizons, we call this the trilemma.
Accessibility
Arguably the biggest challenge working families face is finding care that fits their family’s needs, especially on short notice. This is especially daunting for employees who work atypical shifts or in remote locations with few local providers. Considering this, many employers offer a benefit called back-up care, connecting employees to caregivers at subsidized costs.
Effective back-up care programs include these key features:
- Prioritized or exclusive access: Providing employees with preferred access to a network of specific child care centers, nanny agencies, school-break programs, elder caregivers, and other providers.
- Direct sourcing of care: Using concierge support or technology (e.g. a mobile app) to eliminate the parent’s burden of searching, coordinating, and confirming care.
- Increased capacity: Partnering with back-up care providers that operate centers, in-home care agencies, and other care programs. Providers that operate programs can expand supply in respondto your organization’s growth.
- Comprehensive life stage support: Offering care options for employees at every life stage, from infants to elders, high school students needing tutoring support, and pet parents.
Affordability
The average child care payment per household has risen more than 30% since 2019, and costs for other care programs have followed suit. Thankfully, programs like back-up care can alleviate cost challenges through the full continuum of care, offering a range of affordable options to support working families.
Businesses and employees can manage care costs through:
- Reimbursement programs: Giving employees the agency to find sitters and other care providers, including friends and family, and request reimbursement from their employer provides flexibility.
- Leveraging existing spaces: Partnerships with care providers deliver cost-effective on-site school-age programs and short-term child care by using existing spaces like conference rooms to support working families when they need it the most.
- Affordable employer-sponsored on-site care: Weill Cornell Medicine set child care tuition at one-third of New York City’s average market rate for local employees and provides 25 days of low-cost in-home or center-based back-up care for remote workers yearly.
Quality
Children enrolled in high-quality early child care programs see better long-term academic, financial, and wellbeing outcomes on average than those not enrolled in these programs.
Quality means more than basic supervision and safety; it includes a well-rounded curriculum and engaged, professionally trained staff. For back-up care, quality hinges on a network of vetted and trained caregivers and providers. Compounding the challenge for child care is the relatively short supply of qualified, formally trained early childhood teachers.
Since 2018, Bright Horizons has been addressing that challenge head on, ensuring the quality of its child careproviders by offering free access to the Horizons Teacher Degree Program. More than 4,000 teachers have completed the program, increasing the supply of available care providers and empowering teachers to better serve the unique needs of employees and their families.
Quality extends to the center itself as well. Kwik Trip’s on-site child care includes enriching amenities such as a library, a STEM lab, and playful replications of its various lines of business, including a food preparation station paying homage to the chain’s fresh food and bakery operations.
Moving forward
Addressing the trilemma of family care—accessibility, affordability, and quality—helps working parents and caregivers switch from surviving to thriving. Family care is more than an employee benefit; it’s a strategic advantage.
If any of this resonates with you, let’s solve this together. For more information on how we’re addressing education and care needs, visit our website or connect with me.
About the authors
Denise O'Brien
Denise O’Brien serves as the Group Vice President of Growth Strategy and Operations at Bright Horizons.
