Introducing childcare as a benefit has a huge impact for a small investment.
It hasn’t always been easy for businesses to introduce childcare support, particularly with the demise of childcare vouchers. Now, with Bubble for Work, you can quickly set up childcare support for your teams.
We’ve written elsewhere about the ROI of childcare, here we outline the very real impact of childcare as a benefit for working parents.
1. Letting parents get on with their work
This is the key benefit of childcare. Without it a large proportion of your team simply wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. The challenge is that childcare often doesn’t go to plan. For working parents an average of 8 days a year of work are interrupted by childcare fails.
With Bubble you always have back-up care ready to support parents on the days that don’t go to plan. By posting a job on the app all the sitters and nannies local to the parent will be notified and be able to apply to come and help. The parent can then choose the right sitter for them. Enabling them to focus on their work without worry.
2. Improving loyalty and work satisfaction
Working somewhere where you know the culture is inclusive of working parents is of huge importance to employees. 81% of parents say that childcare benefits are a key factor when choosing a role. But it’s also younger employees who don’t have kids yet who have higher expectations when it comes to benefits – 75% expect to have kids and 50% are currently dissatisfied with the amount of support that they currently get from their employer. ONS data in October 2022 revealed that 1.2 million women had been forced to give up work due to poor access and the high cost of childcare. Investing in childcare as a benefit is a statement about the type of employer you are. It truly demonstrates you understand the challenges and motivations of your people.
3. Improving flexibility
We all know that the way we work has changed. Whilst flexibility comes with loads of advantages for working parents, there are also some challenges. Sometimes days in the office will switch around, or meetings flip from calls to in-person and a last minute trip to the office is required. Bubble provides the ultimate flexible childcare to support flexible work. Parents can select and pay for exactly the hours that they need. There is no other practical tool which better supports working parents and lets them get on with their work.
4. Boosting wellbeing & confidence
Childcare is the most stressful element of a working parent’s life. Every missed call from the nursery or request for calpol from a poorly child comes with the sinking feeling that work plans are about to be messed up. Bubble can’t remove all the pressures of being a parent, but it can ease some of the stress of the unpredictable nature of parenting. Bubble can also really help give your employees time to find space where they don’t feel like they are being pulled in ten different directions: making sure that they can thrive rather than simply survive. This is an enormous factor in boosting the confidence and wellbeing of working parents and you’ll feel the impact of a happier and more loyal workforce.
5. Creating stronger teams in the workplace
One of the unintended side effects of introducing Bubble for Work is that we’ve seen people talk more openly in the office about parenting challenges and bond over favourite sitters that they’ve found on Bubble. It also allows parents to more easily attend work social events and find a bit of extra time in the day to be a mentor or just a good sounding board. On Bubble you can even add your workplace and find out which sitters your colleagues are using. Our monthly working parent club events are energising talks where people often share their experiences of being a working parent. Introducing Bubble for Work is a brilliant way for employees to bond over shared experiences. Adding childcare as a benefit can really shift your workplace culture to feel more open and inclusive.
Only about 11% of workplaces currently offer childcare as a benefit but this is on the rise. Make your business really stand out by adopting this easy to implement benefit. We all know that 2023 is not going to be an easy year for your employees.
One simple way you can show your support is by providing childcare as a benefit. It’s a benefit which delivers way beyond the financial investment – for both employer and employee. Please do get in touch and arrange a chat with Sarah and the team.
