Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare

A key barrier to female labor force participation is the lack of access to childcare. Recognizing the impact that childcare provision has on women’s employment, countries such as Brazil, India, and Jordan have unveiled policies requiring companies to provide childcare options. Even when not driven by regulatory compliance, companies can support childcare and reap business benefits. Much has been written about the need for investment in childcare, yet there is a dearth of information on what companies can do to address their employees’ childcare needs and how companies might benefit as a result.

IFC’s Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare report, released on September 27, 2017, fills that gap. It discusses how companies can analyze their workforce to identify the type of childcare support they can offer to their employees—from on-site childcare to subsidies—that best suits their needs. The report draws on 10 case studies of companies around the world offering various childcare options, highlighting how investments in employer-supported childcare can strengthen the bottom line.

A regulatory framework analysis for each country accompanies the 10 case studies. This analysis was provided by the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law, which measures laws and regulations that affect women’s economic empowerment in 173 economies around the world. WBL’s policy note highlights the regulatory framework in employer-supported childcare and private, stand-alone childcare centers in the 50 economies covered by the Tackling Childcare project.

When companies support childcare, they can hire and retain talented people, helping boost profits and productivity. Moreover, childcare provision can enable more women and men to participate in paid labor. In addition, children who have access to early childhood education and care are more likely to perform well in school and be healthier, as well as are more productive as adults. Hence, employer-supported childcare can result in a win-win situation for employees and their children, employers, and economies.

Download the full report: Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare (2017)

Download the Executive Summary of the Tackling Childcare report in Arabic | Bosnian | English | French | Spanish

Our latest resources:

• Report: Bridging the Gap: Emerging Private Sector Response and Recovery Measures for Gender Equality Amid COVID-19 (December 2020)
• Factsheet: IFC Tackling Childcare Program (August 2020)
• COVID-19 Guidance Note: Childcare in the COVID-19 Era: A Guide for Employers (April 2020)
  
• Guide: Employer-Supported Childcare (November 2019) 

Tackling Childcare around the world:

• Bangladesh: Policy Brief—The Business Benefits and Challenges of Employer-Supported Childcare in Bangladesh (2019)
• Cambodia: Employer-Supported Childcare in Cambodia  (2020)
• Fiji: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare (2019)
  
• India: The Benefits and Challenges of a Workplace Crèche (2019)
• Myanmar: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare in Myanmar (2019)
• Sri Lanka: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare (2019)
• Vietnam: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare in Vietnam (2020)

Our voices in the media:

• Addressing the Unpaid Childcare Crisis for Women and Girls: How Can We Build Better After COVID-19?
  Webinar at the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy by Rudaba Nasir, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC
  
  
• Tackling Childcare in a Global Pandemic
  Blog post at World Bank's Let’s Talk Development Blog by Rudaba Nasir, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC, and Katya El Tayeb and Katrin Schulz, Women, Business and the Law, World Bank
  
  
• One Key to Getting People Back to Work? Childcare
  Blog post at Business Fights Poverty by Sherrilee Le Mottee, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC
  
  
• Investment in Childcare Key to Private Sector's COVID-19 Response
  Blog post at Council on Foreign Relations by Hans Peter Lankes, Vice President of Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC
  
  
• How Better Childcare Can Boost Growth Across Asia
  Op-ed at Thomson Reuters Foundation by Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President for Asia and Pacific, IFC
      
• Expand Employer-Backed Childcare to Close the Gender Gap in Sri Lanka
  Blog post at DailyFT by Aarthy Arunasalam, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC
      
• Tackling Employer-Supported Childcare: A Journey From Why to How
  Blog post at OECD by Rudaba Nasir, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC
      
• Fiji Takes First Steps to Build an Accessible Childcare System
  Blog post at Devex featuring Sarah Twigg, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC

Global case studies (2017):