Can we put “reinventing childcare” on our Christmas wish list?
Here are some companies making that wish come true.
Ask any working parent of young children what their biggest bugbear is, it’s likely to be the cost of childcare. With working parents continually feeling the squeeze on childcare - both from a financial and emotional perspective - companies reinventing childcare, to be delivered more flexibly, and in partnership with employers, are helping close the gap - and are winning employee loyalty points.
The UK’s shortage of nursery workers is well documented. The previous Government admitted it needed to recruit 40,000 early years educators to deliver its expanded childcare funding scheme, which means parents of all children under five will be able to claim 30 free hours a week from September 2025.
Before this new childcare funding scheme is fully rolled out, working parents are swallowing the rising cost of childcare, which some report as increasing by over 25% in the past five years.
Childcare support - or lack thereof - has become a dealbreaker for employees who no longer want to compromise on neither family life, nor their careers. Looking for a company that provides better family support was the top reason for leaving a job, for 32 percent of the 3,000 UK working parents that childcare provider Bright Horizons surveyed for its Modern Family Index 2024. 25 percent say employer subsidised regular childcare would be one of the top benefits they’d be looking for.
34 percent of working mums in the survey also said they’d be more inclined to want to work from the office rather than remotely, if they could get help with childcare costs. 51 percent in Bright Horizons’ survey say they work flexibly to be able to balance their childcare requirements, compared with 27 percent of men. It’s a factor company leaders could take note of when enforcing return to office policies after the Covid-induced period of widespread home working.
Cisco’s on-site childcare offers a win-win situation
Cisco’s on-site nursery has been running at its UK head office in partnership with childcare provider Bright Horizons since 2015 with space for 50 children. The service operates under a “salary sacrifice scheme” run by the UK government. This means employees pay for it directly from their salaries before tax kicks in, and they are then only taxed on their remaining salary, reducing the amount of tax they pay.
This essentially saves employees between a third and half of what the daycare service would otherwise cost without the salary sacrifice arrangement - something that can only be done through a participating employer. The company also provides subsidised back-up emergency childcare for when parents need it; for example, an ad hoc in-home nanny for when a child is sick.
Cisco has certainly reaped the benefits in terms of official accolades. In the “Great Place to Work” rankings, 92 percent of employees agree it’s that, compared with 54 percent of UK workers in other companies. The company has also made it onto the “Best Workplaces” lists for women, for wellbeing, for development, and for tech.
Bubble corporate partnerships are saving employees £750+ a year in childcare
Bubble, an app which helps people find local, vetted babysitters at short notice to book by the hour, has partnered with big names like Uber, Deliveroo and The National Gallery to offer free backup childcare packages to its staff. Finance company VertoFX launched in March a package of 50 hours a year of free back up childcare to all its 70 UK staff, worth £750. Bubble founder and CEO, Ari Last, says the number of companies they are signing up to offer childcare as a work perk is growing 50% year-on-year, as is the number of inquiries they are getting from interested companies.
Employers could also explore partnering with childminder and nanny platforms
Koru Kids, a nanny finding, booking and management platform, says enquiries for nanny sharing are up 43% year on year, representing hundreds of families looking for a nanny share via the platform. After school care bookings in particular are up 50% year on year, with part-time childcare now more in-demand than full-time, driven largely by flexible and remote working.
Meanwhile Tiney, a platform which offers training, insurance, billing and administration support, as well as marketing, to childminders, for a percentage of its members’ fees, registered 537 new childminders last year, and created 5,384 childcare spaces. Many of Tiney’s newly trained childminders have come from the corporate world, looking for a better work-life balance by starting their own childminding business from home. Companies like Koru Kids and Tiney could also offer beneficial employer partnerships to create more subsidised childcare packages for employees.
These initiatives are transforming childcare from a personal challenge into a collaborative effort between employers and families, helping parents feel supported in balancing work and home life.
“Your Best Work Life” will be taking a break over Christmas and will be back in the New Year. Enjoy the holidays and see you then :)