Companies Move Away from On-site Daycare

This article was submitted by Elizabeth Timme, Ice Miller LLP.

Bloomberg recently reported that providing on-site daycare as a benefit of employment is becoming less and less common. In 1996, nine percent of employers offered “unsubsidized day care services”—today, that number has dropped to three percent. Reasons given for the decline include complicated regulations governing the childcare field, high labor costs, and liability concerns. However, the benefits of providing such a perk can be significant. Patagonia, the company profiled in the Bloomberg article, reports that providing on-site care has significantly improved retention rates and employee engagement, and reduces employee stress as well.

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