Introducing Trusted At Work
Dual-income households are slowly starting to become the norm in America. At the onset it sounds interesting that, if, two members of a household are working then the household could be making more money. But that also effectively means the household has less time.
According to Claire Cain Miller,
High earners (though not the highest) work the most. Earners in the 60th to 95th percentile worked about 2,015 hours in 2013, up about 5 percent from 1979.
Rising Cost of Child Care
Although the number of households that are now dual-income is on the rise, the cost of child care is still perceived to be high and rising. Child care costs, whether care is provided in-home or at a school or a center, tend to be one of the most significant expenses in a family’s budget.
There are several factors that could be driving up the cost of child care. As Rebecca Greenfield breaks it down in “Why Is Childcare Getting Even More Expensive?” the cost of child care is not driven up because child care workers are being paid more. In fact, child care workers are still some of the worst paid in the country, making on average $10/hr. The cost is also likely not being driven up because of increased demand or regulations.
While we are still waiting for government regulations, there is more to be desired from employers who might be able to help offset these costs.
Serving Busy Working Parents
As you can see from the chart above, the 9am start-time slot is by far the most popular slot for Trusted on weekdays, followed by the 2pm-3pm slot. Some of our customers reached out to us and wanted to know if they could use their employer provided Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account to pay for Trusted. And some other families have been meticulous about the receipts we provide so that they claim their child care expenses as tax deductions. Late last year some of our customers started referring us to their employers and HR organizations to make see if the whole process can be made smoother. These customers have been using Trusted for
- regular or part-time care either before school or after school,
- pickups & dropoffs to/from schools, or,
- backup / emergency care for when their child is sick or their child’s school has a closure.
When we looked at these use cases more holistically, we see that 65% of parents are late to work or leave work early because of child care issues — an average of 7.5 times in a six-month time frame. [via Child Care Council]
Trusted At Work
Child care is an extremely valuable perk that a company can offer to it’s parent employees. And today, we’re happy to announce the Trusted At Work program. Trusted At Work helps organizations offer
- backup or emergency child care (for sick children or when school is closed),
- regular or part-time care,
- pickups & dropoffs.
In the near future, we also want to work with organizations to help them with onsite child care.
Why should employers care?
1. Absenteeism is very expensive
- It costs employers an estimated 9 days a year per employee and 6% of total payroll — and that’s not to mention the price of presenteeism and employee stress.
- Boost to businesses’ bottom line: childcare breakdowns leading to employee absences cost businesses $3 billion annually in the United States. When employers are proactive about addressing the accessibility and affordability of childcare, their bottom lines benefit. Employers can expect a return of $3 to $4 for every $1 invested in backup childcare. [via PolicyLink]
- Some companies report as much as a 125% return on investment after the first 6 months of implementing a backup childcare program and a 521% return on investment by the fourth year. [via Alliance for Work-Life Progress]
- This positive ROI comes in the form of decreased absenteeism, improved employee morale and job satisfaction, an increase in productivity and a decrease in employee turnover. One company reports saving 4,020 work days in a single year as a result of parents using employer sponsored back-up care instead of calling in sick. [via World at Work Business Impact]
2. Drive Recruitment, Reduce Turnover, Increase Productivity
- More than 75% of mothers and 50% of fathers say they’ve passed up work opportunities, switched jobs or quit to tend to their kids. [via Washington Post]
- 43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers or off-ramping for a period of time. [via Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg]
- When backup childcare options are made available to employees, for example, surveys show that employees feel that they are more productive at work and that they feel an increased loyalty to their employers. [via Increasing Productivity, WFC Resources]
- By offering child care benefits, employers can attract, recruit and retain mothers and fathers.
3. Tax Benefits
- The provision of child care by employers is considered a fringe benefit that may be excludable from your employees’ taxable earnings.
- Your business can provide up to $5,000 in childcare assistance to each employee and exclude it from their taxable wages reported on Form W-2. When the value of the childcare isn’t treated as taxable compensation, your business also stands to save additional money since Social Security, Medicare and federal unemployment taxes aren’t owed on the benefit.
To learn more about how Trusted can help your organization provide child care benefits to your employees, you can send us an email atwork@usetrusted.com or you can visit our website https://usetrusted.com/trusted-at-work-corporate-benefits
Thanks Steven Belous
