Portrait of three generations of women look at the camera posing for a family photo, cute little girl … [+]
82% of working parents say spending more time at home with their children over the past year has made employer-provided child care benefits even more vital. However, less than 6% of U.S. companies offer significant childcare benefits.
Along the same lines, one of the potential challenges with using employer-provided child care benefits is that employees need to clearly understand the terms. For example, when employers offer reimbursement, they may require parents to choose from an approved list of providers or those with specific references.
Even before The Great Resignation, some daycare centers had waiting lists that lasted months or years, and sending a child to them in a hurry was out of the question. However, the New York startup vivi created a product that provides childcare services to families while simultaneously serving as a recruitment, retention and productivity tool for employers.
Vivvi’s Care Cash allows employees in need of emergency childcare to receive a subsidy from their employer to help offset the costs. The startup handles the administration and disbursement of grants based on rules established by Vivvi and the employer. Julia Steele, Senior Director of Marketing at Vivvi, comments:
“Care Cash means access to care for children in any location and is available immediately by employees who hire their provider or pay a parent for care. We see Care Cash as our dual bottom line product: it supports the employee who needs childcare for work and the home carer who is often invisible or unpaid. »
Half (47%) of working parents rely on relatives for childcare. With Care Cash, they can flexibly secure their emergency childcare services through local systems and support, including those loved ones, when needed. “Employees receive a direct transfer which they can use to pay for the care of their choice, even if it is grandma, who is probably happy to come and help but still pays the tolls and gas for travel there, or who may need to take a day off themselves,” says Vivvi co-founder and CEO Charles Bonello.
Care Cash is currently implemented by media company The Skimm. Below, their Chief People Officer, Lisa Dallenbach, explains how Vivvi empowers women and parents to thrive in the workplace:
“What Vivvi allows us to offer is not necessarily just childcare. It allows us to go out and tell our employees that wherever you are in your journey as a parent and caregiver, whatever your needs, we have a benefits package for you.
