Author: Haley Ackerman-Barton
Offering child care benefits to employees helps businesses attract and retain talent, increase productivity, and support diversity in the workplace.
Attract and Retain Talent
Utah is facing a worker shortage. If businesses want to attract and retain top talent, they’ll need to offer smarter benefits. Utah’s workforce is well-educated, young, and motivated by more than money. In fact, 83% of millennials say they would leave their jobs for one with more family-friendly benefits.
Parents want to work, but the lack of high-quality and affordable child care prevents them, especially mothers, from entering and staying in the workforce. 30% of Utah parents have had to cut back on work hours because of unmet child care needs. Additionally, 44% of Utah parents surveyed said they would utilize child care to work more or further their education. Utah workers are willing and ready, but child care is holding them back. Offering child care benefits will fill the workforce gap but also provide engaged and loyal employees. The data backs this up; companies that offer child care benefits have seen employee turnover decline by as much as 60%.
Productivity
When businesses don’t meet the child care needs of working parents, they lose money. U.S. businesses lose $4.4 billion annually due to employee absenteeism as the result of childcare breakdowns. They lose an additional $4 billion annually due to loss of productivity due to childcare breakdowns. When businesses offer child care benefits, they can recover the costs of lost productivity. Companies that offer child care benefits report seeing employee absences decrease by up to 30%. The cost savings from a decrease in turnover plus the increase of productivity means that childcare benefits for employees equate to significant benefits for a company.
Diversity
When businesses offer child care benefits, they encourage a wider range of skilled employees to join and rejoin the workforce. Child care benefits fundamentally support the retention of women in the workplace. For many families, it is more cost-effective for a parent to leave the workforce than to pay for child care. In Utah, the parent that is most likely to choose to stay home is the mother. 44% of Utah mothers left the workforce due to the lack of affordable, high-quality child care. Dropping out of the workforce even for a short period of time means losing out on significant salary increases and career opportunities. Offering child care benefits would help women remain in the workforce instead of being forced out by the lack of child care availability or high child care costs.
For Utah businesses, offering child care benefits good business. It supports and attracts today’s workforce while ensuring productivity and diversity in the workplace.