Sharon Hughes’ Post

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The childcare crisis is not a family issue. It’s an American issue. And it has huge economic implications. Everyone should be looking at ways to help, including employers. Not because it’s a charity case, but because it will boost your own business, and the overall economy. Want the best talent, the highest team member retention, and the highest employer engagement? Offer childcare benefits. ‘’The child care crisis in America affects all of us, but especially businesses. When working parents don’t have proper child care, they can’t operate at their full potential, and companies lose out on highly valuable talent.’’ Jessica Kamada Kids Care Finder #childcare #childcarecrisis #womenintech #workingparents

The most frustrating part about talking about our childcare crisis in the US is that I feel like we never talk about SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS … until now … Let me take a step back and explain what I mean. To me, it’s SO glaringly obvious what the issues are: Childcare is hard to find, quality can be questionable, can involves a long commute, hours of service often aren’t convenient, backup care is critical yet hard to find, and, of course, THE COST. But what is never clear to me is - short of government intervention - what can we possibly DO to solve these massive issues? So you can imagine my glee when I read the Moms First + Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report that profiles 5 different companies and the different childcare solutions they offer: 📦 UPS has emergency onsite daycare ⛷️ Steamboat Ski Resort has a near-site child care center    🛍️ Fast Retailing has a $1,000 per month childcare stipend   💳 Synchrony has 60 days of backup care per year   🧵 Etsy has up to $4,000 in backup care credits per year Want to know the impact of each of these programs? Then you’ll have to review the report! 👇 #ChildCarePaysForItself

Employers need to see the ROI to offer childcare benefits; they won't just do it out of the goodness of their hearts. A new study shows that retaining as few as 1% of eligible employees can cover the cost of childcare benefits thanks to flexible and cheaper employee childcare benefits like Winnie that don't require a massive upfront investment. This newly published study from Moms First & Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has the data: https://lnkd.in/gC33cSYC They found that companies investing in childcare benefits experience positive returns on investment ranging from 90% to 425%! Despite 1 in 3 employees being parents, only 12% of all workers in the United States receive childcare benefits from their employers. This percentage decreases to 6% for those who are employed part-time. Let's change that. If you're interested in offering flexible, affordable childcare benefits for your employees, check out https://lnkd.in/gYPsDfKu

It's getting harder to be a working parent. Explains why companies who provide childcare benefits are winning. "For every dollar spent on childcare benefits, employers saw a net gain of between $0.90 and $4.25 through reduced absenteeism, less lateness and lower rates of attrition." Fascinating new study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Consulting Group and Moms First.

📣 📣 📣 The one employee benefit that has proven 425% ROI: Childcare. Thats right. 1 in 3 employees are parents. A new study by Moms First & Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that by retaining just 1% 🤯 of eligible employees covered the cost of this benefit. Kudos to companies like Upwards innovating in this space and the companies in this study who are trailblazing in offering childcare benefits to employees. https://lnkd.in/ggMHcyPR

"The cost of providing child care benefits to employees — like stipends and onsite day care — is an investment with outsized return" Wanted to share a study conducted by BCG and nonprofit Moms First focused on ways companies can measure the ROI (return on investment) from childcare. The impact of these benefits to working parents is significant. The study could even underestimate the benefit given it does not account for things like paid parental leave or Dependent care FSA, both of which further support parents. https://lnkd.in/gXhqtbcR

We have been in discussions with executives throughout a number of industries (Healthcare and Law etc.,) and there seems to be a trend that cannot be neglected. What is the ROI for childcare services, why should company leaders invest in childcare benefits? https://lnkd.in/g3-JXUvC HERE'S THE REAL KICKER: Retaining as few as just 1% of eligible employees can cover the cost of benefits. For the employer, have your costs covered by tax credits and get your teams to pay a portion to ensure accountability and trust in how the services are utilized. You get to become an Employer of Choice for a fraction of the cost! It is a no brainer! 1. Companies that have invested in childcare have seen a 425% increase on ROI! That's a serious growth percentage! HOW: Parents may be late, not show up to work, or be distracted when their child care plans fall through. Without support, some parents are held back —avoiding new challenges, promotions, or travel—or leave the workforce altogether. Retention saves employee departure costs, productivity, morale and career progression costs CANNOT be understated. 2. Replacing an employees costs companies up to 2x an employers salary. So, if you are a small business paying your employees $35,000 to $40,000, this equates to a loss of 75 to 80K per employee who departs the company. This time is avluated while the vacancy remains open, interviewing time, time to prepare their office, set up cost, IT support and the other on-boarding time before the employee generates revenue. This percentage is likley higher for employers hiring specialized staff and leaders. 3. 66% of working parents are experiencing parental burnout. Employers want the RO but are not willing to help address some glaring challenges faced by their teams. 4. 63% of parents say they made career changes to afford childcare? Who said they have a talent issue? There is a whole demographic waiting to be captured, trained and developed, if only care benefits are provided! 5. Inadequate child care cost employers $13B a year in lost productivity.

The “why this is important” statistics in this report by the Moms F1rst org and Boston Consulting Group here are that 1 in 3 employees are shouldering parenting and the workplace responsibilities, so the 425% ROI could pay dividends for at least a third of a company’s talent base when companies invest in benefits towards affordable and consistent child care. Where this investment is most effective is in the first two years of the life of a child as those infant ages are the most costly of the early childcare years, averaging as much as 20% or higher of the household income in high cost of living states like California.

Immediately thought of you and your work at Upwards when I saw this report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bobby Isaacson. Partnering with Moms First and looking at care offerings from UPS, Etsy, Fast Retailing, Synchrony, and Steamboat Ski Resort, the results show that the ROI on childcare benefits is undeniable. From Fortune's CHRO Daily, "Financial gains made from increased employee retention and productivity, compared to the net cost to administer the childcare benefit—ranging from 90% to 425%. Some companies needed as little as a 1% increase in employee retention to make back the childcare investment cost, the report calculated. Additionally, childcare-related absences fell by four to 16 days." As a working mom, I cannot overstate how important it was to have reliable childcare when my kiddos were younger. Affordability was debatable, but I had the luxury of choice - many don't. In my industry, we draw a direct connection between #employeeengagement and the bottom line on the finance sheet. How can you have strong engagement if your working parents are constantly worried about the state of care for their children? It's past time for businesses to recognize the importance of childcare benefits - not just for improved productivity/profitability, but for overall wellbeing of your workforce.

📰 Child care pays for itself. 🤸♀️ 🤸♀️ 🤸♀️ 🤹♀️ 1 in 3 employees balances parenthood and work. Yet, only 12% of all US workers have access to #childcare benefits through their employer — and just 6% of part-time or low-income workers.  😢 And when parents don’t have child care, they cut back on work hours or leave the workforce entirely — causing businesses to lose money and our economy to take a hit. 📈 It’s time we all see child care as the economic issue it is, so Moms First & Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Consulting Group teamed up to conduct a study of five major US companies and understand their ROI when investing in child care benefits. The results are groundbreaking and make the economic case for greater investment in child care benefits: ✅ Retaining as few as 1% of eligible employees can cover the cost of childcare benefits ✅ All 5 companies — across industries, company size, and employee mix — saw a positive return on investment up to 425%, when investing in child care benefits for their employees. ✅ Child care benefits can help individual employees avoid more than two weeks of absences annually, boosting employee productivity ✅ 86% of respondents said they were more likely to stay with their employer because of their childcare benefits, bolstering retention This proves once and for all that #ChildCarePaysForItself. https://lnkd.in/g3-JXUvC