Who Participates and Who Benefits From Employer-Provided Child-Care Assistance?

Support from employers to help parents balance work and family responsibilities has become an increasingly important issue, particularly in the United States, where public support for families is scarce. Little is known about the effectiveness of employer-provided child-care support. Who participates in these programs, and what are their benefits? This study is among the first to address these questions using a dataset that combines administrative with survey data from employees at a large organization. Findings indicate that employer financial support for child care can be structured so that employees with the greatest need benefit and employee participation is not associated with stigma. Results suggest the employer benefits from increased employee commitment and reduced employee stress, but employees do not report increased parent or child satisfaction with care. Although employer financial support alone cannot compensate for structural problems with regard to child care, it may reduce stress and increase employee commitment in the workplace.