American companies must step up and provide direct childcare solutions.
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If you’re a parent and/or own a company, you don’t need me to tell you how the childcare crisis affects families and businesses.
Almost 14.5 million children under five have both parents in the workforce. Without affordable and available childcare, everything we value—from family life to finances—suffers.
In the 2023 Child Care Affordability report, ChildCare Aware of America (CCAoA) found that the national average price of childcare was $11,582—at least 10 percent of a dual-parent household income and at least 32 percent of a single parent’s household income.
As the childcare crisis grows, it’s no longer just a social issue. It’s a leadership imperative. Company work policies must prioritize parents. As leaders, we must invest in children—and their care—now. When we stop viewing childcare as an obligation, usually assigned to the mother, and recognize it as a valid and strong decision like any other career choice, we empower all individuals to choose options that align with their goals.
When I was writing my book, Changemakers Wanted: Your Blueprint for Lasting Impact and Ethical Change, my daughter was 18 months old. Now, in order to ascertain a preschool for her, my husband and I have to pay a nonrefundable fee to place her on a waitlist. I don’t know who my daughter will be in a year, but this is the only way I can make sure there’s a place to handle our childcare needs.
Because of our country’s childcare crisis, parents are forced into decisions before they’re ready to make them. Parents can’t solve this problem. Working remotely can’t solve this problem.
Company leadership must seek out and implement solutions. We need to look only at Patagonia, which has provided onsite childcare since 1983 through their Great Pacific Child Development Center (GPCDC), to see the benefits of corporate accountability. This ongoing initiative benefits employees and treats their families as extensions of the corporate family, thereby enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.
As I ask in my book, if a company generating over $1 billion in annual sales demonstrates on-site childcare is fully feasible with over 41 years of data showing a direct benefit to parents, children, and the company alike, why isn’t this model more widely replicated?
Patagonia has proven it works. Business leaders should immediately reallocate our corporate budgets to facilitate on-site childcare for infants through preschoolers. Smaller businesses can adopt alternative models successfully employed by some top U.S.-based companies.
Some of these models include collaborating with nearby childcare centers to provide near-site services, offering a stipend or flexible savings account (FSA) to help with childcare costs and exploring partnerships that offer flexible care solutions to remote employees.
Where do we start?
By addressing accessibility by providing direct childcare solutions, affordability by offering financial support options, committing to employing innovative and flexible solutions, and advocating for change!
Numerous studies, in addition to real-world examples like Patagonia, show the significant ROI that businesses can achieve by implementing family-friendly policies, reinforcing the argument for widespread corporate adoption of such practices. Besides, it’s the right thing to do.
Regardless of the size or style of the benefits we choose to implement, we must act now if we’re serious about addressing the childcare crisis.
