How to help employees fill child care gaps during the holidays

For working parents, a change in child care or school routine during the holiday season can add additional stress to an already busy time. Employers can take steps to help relieve some of the pressure.

Finding adequate child care is a challenge regardless of the time of year — over half of Americans live in areas deemed child care deserts, according to Zippia — but 68% of working parents say it is especially difficult to manage over the winter holiday season, according to a recent survey by national child care company Bright Horizons. The feeling of falling short of expectations affected 67% of respondents, while more than half reported they felt guilty while attempting to balance work and family time.

"You want to be with family and you want to spend time and shop for your loved ones, but it also tends to be the busiest time from a work perspective because it's the closing of the year," says Priya Krishnan, chief digital and transformation officer at Bright Horizons. "All of that compounded [leads to] stress and guilt for working parents, so how do we highlight this issue with employers?"

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Long holiday breaks can throw a wrench into established schedules for the reported 58% of working parents who rely on child care centers, leaving them scrambling to find coverage while they juggle job responsibilities and holiday preparation. Almost half of Bright Horizons survey respondents said that working while their children are on holiday break leaves them needing additional help.

When alternatives can be found, it's costly: Care.com reports weekly daycare and holiday camps, if available, set parents back hundreds of dollars. Krishnan points out that one way employers can bring much-needed relief to their parent population is by providing backup child care options for times when children are unable to be in their regularly-scheduled programs or schools. 

"[Supplying a resource] for when regular care breaks down or [employees] need additional help is a great way for an employer to start providing support, especially during this time of year," she says. "It could be through center-based or in-home care. We have winter camps for the time that parents are working through the holidays, or for older children it might be tutoring support or remediation classes. In that moment of a bind, is there an ability for an employer to provide a few days of support?"

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To put the right kinds of programs and benefits in place, or just to keep the issue fresh in parents' minds, Krishnan suggests  steady communications to employees, as well as requests for feedback. Reminders about upcoming breaks to help parents plan ahead, whether from the employer directly or a benefits partner, can help employees have peace of mind that their children will be taken care of. This lessens the cognitive load, and helps parents avoid child care emergencies when a break is suddenly upon them, she says.

"Employees need a safe space and the ability to say, 'This is what keeps me grounded at home,'" says Krishnan. "Creating forums — employee resource groups, listening sessions, surveys — you [can] get a good sense of what people are saying and what are the broad themes. That's a good way for you to say 'We're making a difference on the key things that matter to our employee base.'"