Increase your bottom line
Employers are often in the first wave affected by the lack of affordable and quality licensed child care. However, when it comes to child care support, employers often don’t know why or how to begin. I’m here to tell you why and how to invest in child care to retain productive staff and increase your bottom line.
- Improved employee productivity: When employees are worried about their children’s wellbeing, they can become distracted and less productive. By providing childcare support, companies can help alleviate this stress and improve employee productivity. Productivity in turn drives up your bottom line, making your company more profitable.
- Enhanced employee retention: Providing childcare support can help companies retain their employees, particularly parents who may have difficulty finding affordable and reliable childcare. Supporting families can also reduce turnover costs associated with hiring and training new employees.
- Attracting a diverse workforce: By offering childcare support, companies can attract and retain a diverse workforce, including parents who may have otherwise been unable to work due to childcare responsibilities.
- Positive company image: Offering childcare support can improve a company’s reputation and image as a family-friendly employer that values its employees. The spike in perception can also communicate to customers that you are a company worth promoting and utilizing.
- Increased employee loyalty: Employees who feel supported and valued by their employer are more likely to be loyal and committed to the company, resulting in increased employee satisfaction and engagement. Employees will stay in a working environment with the people who provide them with incentives that increase their quality of life.
Roughly 8% of Montana’s labor force is reliant on child care to show up to work each day. However, only 43% of the demand for reliable and quality child care is being met. Meaning, a significant portion (and growing) of the workforce is stressed and unhappy due to the lack of quality and affordable child care.
Now that you have read about the benefits and needs, let's talk about what options you can consider implementing in your business practices.
Here are just a few:
- On-site/Near-site child care: A company offers an on-site or near-site child care facility for their employees’ children.
- Subsidies for child care: Employers can offer subsidies or vouchers to help employees cover the cost of child care.
- Flexible work arrangements: Employers can offer flexible work arrangements, such as working from home, flexible schedules, or job sharing, to help employees manage their childcare responsibilities.
- Parental leave: Employers can offer paid parental leave for new parents to care for their newborn or newly adopted child. Parents can then have more time with their baby before needing to utilize outside child care.
- Backup child care: Employers can offer backup child care options for emergency situations when a regular caregiver is unavailable.
- Employee resource groups: Employers can create employee resource groups for parents, which can provide support, networking opportunities, and resources for child care.
Are you still thinking “this could never work”?
Well, check out this success story out of Bozeman, Montana.
Zoot/Zala is a company who prioritized child care by opening an on-site option for their employees’ children.
Evergreen Kids Corner Preschool
The solution is up to you in what you can afford and what you have capacity for. However, research shows that any level of family forward practices can help your business grow a reliable workforce, obtain employee loyalty, increase productivity, and raise your bottom line.
– Rhonda Schwenke, Program Director
