In just the first few months of 2024, we’ve seen three monumental studies that look at the impact of care benefits on the workforce, and all three have a resounding clear, concrete, and overwhelming conclusion: the return on investment for employers when it comes to offering care benefits is beyond just good, it’s overwhelming.
In January Harvard Business School released Healthy Outcomes, a two-year look at the way nearly 100 companies saw results from utilizing Wellthy as an employee benefit to support their teams. The findings: Wellthy saves the average company $200,000 when it helps just 5 employees avoid taking a leave of absence or leaving the workforce because of care needs. It adds up to companies seeing a 2 to 1 and up to a 3.6 to 1 ROI.
In February, a study conducted by Vivvi and The Fifth Trimester documented incredibly strong ROI when it comes to family-care benefits — with case studies showing that for every $1.00 spent on child care benefits, a company sees an 18x return.
And just this week, Boston Consulting Group and Moms First released a groundbreaking new report on the ROI of child care benefits, looking at five companies — Synchrony, Etsy, UPS, Steamboat Ski Resort, and Fast Retailing — and found that child care benefits offered a return on investment of up to 425%.
“Offering care benefits isn’t just good business,” Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First, said at a Washington, DC event announcing the report, “it’s financial negligence for a company not to.”The report from Boston Consulting Group and Moms First, “The Employee Benefit That Pays for Itself,” found that by providing childcare stipends, backup care options, and onsite childcare, all five of the companies studied avoided substantial costs from employee turnover and unplanned absences. Parents with reliable childcare reported missing up to 13 fewer work days per year.
“Our study provides evidence that U.S. employers adding childcare benefits to their employment packages are seeing quick and lasting rewards in recruiting, retention, and productivity. This result was consistent across a range of industries, and for both salaried and hourly employees,” said Emily Kos, managing director and partner at BCG. “One striking example of how the benefits pay for themselves is tied to something as basic as showing up. Parents miss far less work when they have reliable care and more options to manage childcare disruptions. That’s good for employees and for employers.”Just several months into 2024, it's clear that the employees and employers alike are seeing unprecedented and consequential returns from care benefits. The financial and productivity gains, coupled with the positive effects on employee retention and recruitment, make a compelling case for companies to prioritize care benefits as an essential part of their employee support strategy.