Free Ways for Companies to Support Employees with Childcare

Join Winnie in participating in #ShowUsYourChildcare

The cost of childcare is a major financial burden for many working parents. In fact, the average cost of childcare for an infant in the United States is now over $14,000 per year. When childcare is hard to come by, it leads parents (disproportionately moms) to step back or drop out of the workforce. 

We’re participating in the #ShowUsYourChildcare initiative led by Moms First and TheSkimm. We’re publicly sharing our company’s child care benefits and calling on other employers to join us in supporting their employees with childcare.

The good news is many of the ways to support companies with childcare are free. Here are some of the ways we do so at Winnie without it breaking the bank.

• Dependent Care FSA. A Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is a pre-tax benefit account used to pay for eligible dependent care services. While the responsibility for funding this account falls mainly on the employee, companies can contribute and often simply facilitate the setup of these accounts. This not only helps employees budget for their childcare costs but also provides them with a tax advantage. The company doesn't need to fund the FSA but can make the process easy and educate employees about it.
  
  
• Flexible schedules and remote work. Being rigid with working hours and location can place a lot of stress on working parents who are juggling childcare duties. By offering remote work combined with flexible start and end times and breaks in the middle of the day to handle drop-off and pick-up, companies can provide parents with the ability to balance their work schedules around daycare and school hours. This policy costs nothing but can drastically improve the working conditions for parents and even enhance their productivity by allowing them to work when and where it works for them.
  
  
• Create a culture of support for working parents. This includes things like being understanding of family emergencies, allowing employees to work from home when needed, and providing flexible work arrangements. Companies can also form communities or resource groups for parents where they can share advice, resources, and support one another. This helps in creating a sense of belonging, empathy, and can aid in solving problems collectively.
  
  
• Resources for finding childcare. This one is obviously Winnie’s bread and butter. Our free directory of all local group childcare & early education providers is an incredible resource that everyone has access to. We use our own employees’ feedback using Winnie to improve the product for everyone.
  
  
• Paid leave. Providing paid leave for new parents isn’t just the right thing to do; it can also be an excellent retention tool. It costs far more to hire and train a new employee than it does to provide paid leave. Companies can look into state programs that offset the cost of paid family leave to the company. At Winnie, we use Sparrow to help us manage our paid parental leave and tap into any state benefits that offset the cost to the company of providing fully paid leave. We also provide unlimited paid time off to allow all employees time to recharge, handle illness and childcare emergencies, and take care of other matters.
  
  
• Part-time options. Offering part-time work can be a great way for your company to hire and retain parents, and even save some money along the way. Not all jobs require a 40 hour per week commitment.

There are a range of ways that companies can help alleviate the pressure of childcare on working parents without incurring major financial burdens. As a company, we invite all businesses to #ShowUsYourChildcare, recognizing that supporting parents is not just beneficial for employees, but also good for business.