Employees Leaving the Workforce Increases Because of Child Care Concerns

On Nov 19, 2020

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation released a new report detailing how employers are thinking about child care assistance, benefits, and accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report, “Piecing Together Solutions: Employer Childcare Assistance Now and Looking Ahead,” examines how employers have supported employees with young children while experiencing employee turnover and the future of their investment in child care.

“Since the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 has forced employers to change how they operate,” said Cheryl Oldham, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. “As 2020 draws to a close, employers are still unsure about how to navigate this new business and talent landscape, and how to best support the child care needs of their employees.”

The report builds upon previous studies of parents, employers, and child care providers that the U.S. Chamber Foundation released throughout the year. It shows that, while most employers feel they are aware and supportive of the child care needs of their employees, they underestimated the number of workers who would leave the workforce due to COVID-19. In June of this year, 24% of employers were concerned that some of their employees would leave the workforce because of the pandemic, but by October, 32% of employers had lost employees. When asked what factors drove employees’ decisions to leave the workforce, half cited child care concerns.

Additional key findings from the study include:

• Due to the impact of the pandemic, many employers are struggling financially to invest in employees’ child care needs. 20% of employers are currently willing to increase their investment in child care needs. Additionally, 49% of employers would be likely to provide additional child care assistance if the government offered supplementary incentives. When asked what types of additional child care assistance they would be willing to provide, employers cited flexible working hours (44%) and remote work (36%).
• An overwhelming majority of employers feel that they are aware of their employees’ child care needs. Eighty-9% of employers feel they are aware of the child care needs of their employees, and most employers gather this information through informal feedback. Of those surveyed, 13% have fielded surveys on the topic and 11% have conducted formal feedback sessions.
• Most employers feel they provide adequate support to employees with young children. Overall, 71% of employers feel that they provide adequate support for employees with young children. This varies depending on the size of the employer; 77% of employers with between 10 and 49 employees feel that they provide adequate support, compared to 60% of employers with more than 500 employees.

Accompanying the study, the U.S. Chamber Foundation produced a video of conversations with employers discussing how the pandemic has impacted their workforce and changed the way they do business.

This report is part of a series of studies to better understand how child care challenges are affecting working parents and their employers during the pandemic. In December, the U.S. Chamber Foundation will publish a final culminating report, and host a webinar  that will cover the findings from the series of surveys conducted in 2020, to examine the impact of COVID-19 on child care observed over time.

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