Rising child care expenses coupled with limited availability of quality care options have created a pressing dilemma for parents. From the high costs of full-time nanny services in major cities to the looming threat of child care center closures as federal aid from the COVID-19 pandemic tapers off, parents are running out of options.
In a speech earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen highlighted the profound impact of inaccessible and unaffordable child care on the workforce, emphasizing that it remains "too hard to be a working parent" in the United States.
Thankfully, many companies are starting to recognize the vital role child care support can play in ensuring the wellbeing and productivity of their employees.
In a September survey, child-care provider Vivvi and the Fifth Trimester found that 42 percent of individuals who had contemplated leaving their jobs ultimately decided to stay, citing their employer's support for caregiving responsibilities as the determining factor. And according to a Care.com survey, 56 percent of companies have identified child care benefits as their most pressing concern in the current year, marking a significant increase from 46 percent in the previous year.
Here’s a look at 25 companies across various industries that are leading the charge in offering child care reimbursement and stipends to their employees to help shoulder the rising costs. From financial services giants to tech innovators and healthcare providers, these companies are prioritizing the wellbeing of their workforce by easing the financial burden of child care expenses.
25 companies that offer child care reimbursements and stipends
1. Adobe
Adobe is a computer software company providing customer-focused solutions for web-based applications and content development, providing a broad range of products and solutions that help customers with everything from graphic design, photo and video editing, to digitally signing documents.
Adobe prioritizes family support and offers a wide range of child care support services to help employees balance their lives beyond the workplace. The company’s benefits include child care resources, like jumping ahead on Bright Horizons waitlists, accessing discounts on Steve & Kate’s summer day camps, receiving waived Sittercity membership fees, and accessing before- and after-school programs from Right at School. Adobe also offers backup child care solutions, academic support discounts, and access to enrichment programs and college coaches. For the flexible spending plan for dependents, once you are enrolled, Adobe also makes a non-taxable contribution of up to $1200 each year, however it is prorated for new employees to assist with eligible dependent care expenses.
2. Aflac
Aflac (American Family Life Assurance Company) is a Fortune 500 company and the largest supplemental insurance provider in the United States. Aflac offers its employees discounted, onsite daycare at its Columbus, Georgia, headquarters and supplemental daycare offsets for families that work remotely—up to $1,800 per year.
3. Airwavz
Airwavz designs, installs, owns, and operates in-building wireless infrastructure that provides high-speed connectivity to its clients and their tenants. Airwavz empowers their clients to enjoy wireless services that meet their client’s unique needs and goals. Airwavz pays for access to Tootris, a child care network so parents can find child care- and Airwavz gives employees a $200 monthly stipend to help pay for it.
4. Bank of America
Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals around the world. The banking giant offers a Child Care Plus child care reimbursement of $275 per month per child for those under 12 years old or younger if they are incapable of taking care of themselves. To qualify for the reimbursement, employees have to make under $100,000.
Read more: 8 Ways to Make Child Care More Affordable
5. Cape Cod 5
Cape Cod 5 is a community bank with locations throughout Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Southeastern Massachusetts. Full and part time employees that work at least 21 hours a week are eligible for child care reimbursement.
6. Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation manufactures and sells a range of high-quality refined products, including gasoline, diesel, marine and aviation fuels, premium base oil, finished lubricants, and fuel oil additives. For the parents who travel for business, Chevron offers child care reimbursement if an employee has to pay for child care-related expenses for children 17 years or younger who are financially dependent on them.
7. Chobani
Chobani creates yogurt, oat milk, dairy, and non-dairy creamers. In 2023, the company implemented a program where U.S. workers get a cash stipend each year to spend on child care.
8. Datadog
Datadog is a cloud monitoring and security solution that integrates with many client systems, logs, applications, and APIs. In addition to FSA Dependent Care benefits, Datadog employees are eligible to receive up to $2,000 annually to assist with child care up to age 5.
9. Deloitte
Deloitte provides audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax, and related services. Deloitte offers employees an emergency backup child care reimbursement program. The program provides for a reimbursement of fees paid up to $100 per day for a maximum of seven days for any care not provided through their Bright Horizons program. However, any days reimbursed will be subtracted from the Bright Horizons emergency backup care with a 30-day limit.
10. Etsy
The e-commerce company is a website where vendors sell handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. Etsy offers $4,000 for backup child care and a $1,000 annual work-life stipend to help with costs.
11. Fast Retailing Company
The retail company operates that Uniqlo and Theory gives employees a monthly $1,000 child care stipend per child for up to 36 months. The program is for eligible employees above a certain grade that have children from newborns to 6.5 years old.
12. Frontier Co-Op
Frontier Co-Op is a cooperatively owned wholesaler of natural and organic products, based in Norway, Iowa. It sells products under the Frontier Co-op, Simply Organic, and Aura Cacia brands. The company offers subsidized child care for employees as well as child care reimbursement.
13. KUBRA
KUBRA is an industry-leading provider of customer experience management solutions to utility, government, and insurance entities, KUBRA goes even further by offering child and dependent care reimbursement for its United States employees of up to $1,000 per month.
14. MarketStar
MarketStar is an outsourcing/offshoring company headquartered in Ogden, Utah. The company offers employees child care reimbursement. In a LinkedIn post, MarketStar said they reimburse half of an employee’s child care expenses up to the IRS limit between $2,500 and $5,000.
15. MassMutual Financial Group
MassMutual is a life insurance and financial services company. Employees must choose the Well-Being Wallet during the benefits selection to receive up to $1,250 per year for a wide range of wellness expenses, including licensed child care.
16. News Corp
News Corp is a media company that has brands that include Dow Jones, Realtor.com, and Harpers Collins Publishers. News Corp employees are eligible for reimbursement for child care expenses incurred in their home or care center when their regular provider is unavailable. Reimbursement is up to a maximum of $700 per year. These expenses must be necessary for the employee and their spouse to be able to work.
17. One Workplace
One Workplace designs furniture solutions through listening and observation. According to CNN, the company offers employees a cash stipend of $200 a quarter to help them pay for any kind of child care or after-school programs.
18. PayPal
PayPal is an online payment system that allows you to send and receive money. PayPal offers employees child care reimbursement up until the age of 4. PayPal will reimburse one-sixth of the actual child care costs as long as a copy of the contract or invoice is provided.
19. PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) offers business advisory services such as auditing, accounting, taxation, strategy management, and human resource consulting services. They offer some child care reimbursement to employees. Their benefits program is designed to help with managing backup care needs so time isn’t missed from work. Staff receive reimbursement from $1000 to $2000 of backup care costs per year when their typical child care or elder care falls through.
20. Schreiber Foods
Schreiber Foods is a Green Bay, Wisconsin, producer and distributor of branded foods, including cheeses, dairy beverages and yogurt, with employees and operations across the U.S. and in Latin America, Europe, and India. Employees receive $5,000 as a recurring yearly stipend to assist with child care costs.
21. USAA
USAA offers a fully integrated array of financial services to active and former U.S. military members and their families. USAA’s services include banking, investments, credit cards, and loans, along with auto, property, casualty, and life insurance.
USAA offers an employer-funded child care reimbursement program that supports employees who have children under the age of 6 or disabled dependents of any age. The benefit reimburses 50 percent of qualifying child care expenses up to the annual maximum reimbursement amount based on an employee’s annual salary. This is only eligible for those who make under $100,000 annually. This benefit is separate from the dependent flexible spending plan.
Eligible employees can also receive up to $250 per month to help pay for child care. This benefit is 100 percent funded by USAA.
22. Vail Health
Vail Health is a nonprofit community health care system in Colorado. They offer employees child care reimbursement.
23. Volvo Cars
Swedish automaker Volvo Cars announced in 2023, that it would begin offering hourly employees at its Ridgeville, South Carolina, assembly plant a $3,000 annual stipend for child care.
24. Withum
Withum, a nationally recognized CPA and advisory firm, implemented a child care reimbursement expense program that went into effect in 2022. The program helps to reduce the burden of child care costs and summer camp by reimbursing up to 25 percent of eligible child care provider expenses.
25. Yale University
The prestigious private Ivy League university is located in New Haven, Connecticut. Employees are eligible to receive child care reimbursement. It’s broken down into salary levels, so employees could be eligible for reimbursements between $2,000 to $4,000 per household per calendar year.
Read more: 30 Companies That Offer Daycare at Work
