Working parents missed 21 days of work last year due to child care issues

Eighty-one percent of respondents said they’d be more likely to stay with their current employer if they began offering caregiving benefits.

Credit: kieferpix/Adobe Stock

It comes as no surprise that working parents continue to struggle when it comes to finding child care while balancing responsibilities both at work and at home. A new survey from UrbanSitter, a San Francisco-based mobile app that helps parents connect with and review babysitters and nannies, found that on average, respondents missed 21 days of work over the last 12 months due to caregiving challenges. 

The need for child care is apparent, with 79% of survey respondents reporting that child care is essential in order for them to be able to work. The majority of working parents who responded said that they require between 31-40 hours of child care each week. Another 19% said they rely on child care for 41-50 hours of the week. 

Yet, many working parents still struggle to find affordable and reliable child care. According to the survey, half of respondents said child care is either “difficult” or “very difficult” to find right now. More than half of the working parents surveyed said they spend between $1k-$5k on child care per month. 

Beyond affordability, many working parents struggle to find child care altogether. Nearly half of survey respondents said their current employer does not offer any caregiving benefits. When asked how their employers could better support them as parents, 41% of respondents said child care benefits or subsidies would help them. 

Additionally, the survey showed that caregiving benefits had the potential to benefit companies with higher employee productivity and retention rates as well. Eighty-one percent of respondents said they’d be more likely to stay with their current employer if they began offering caregiving benefits and 73% said it would help them decide on a new job. 

Related: Revolutionizing employee benefits: Tackling the childcare crisis to retain top talent

Child care issues often impact employees’ ability to perform their work. The survey found that 33% of respondents said caregiving issues caused a decrease in productivity “often,” 31% said “sometimes” and 14% replied “always.” Many employees said they had to reduce hours and responsibilities due to child care issues – 40% and 24% respectively. 

As child care struggles continue to impact working parents, which make up such a large part of the U.S. workforce, companies have a unique opportunity to offer better services and programs to their employees.