Input Stories

More companies are providing child care for employees’ children in an effort to recruit talent, particularly women, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription).

What’s going on: “Though relatively small in number, more employers are … providing child care, according to the Best Place for Working Parents.”

• “Nearly 11% of the network’s members provided on-site child care between April 2021 and September 2022, either on their own or run by outside providers. That share is up from 9.3% in the first year of the pandemic, and 5.5% in the months before pandemic lockdowns began in March 2020.”
• The Biden administration last week announced that to be eligible for federal subsidies under the CHIPS and Science Act, manufacturers of semiconductors “are expected to ensure employees have access to affordable, quality child care.”

Why it’s important: Lack of access to such care is among the top reasons women have stayed out of the labor force in recent years, according to a study by the Manufacturing Institute (the NAM’s 501(c)3 workforce development and education partner) and insurer Colonial Life.

Manufacturers offer care: “Tyson Foods Inc., which is adding child care at its Springdale, Ark., headquarters and at a poultry processing plant in Humboldt, Tenn., says it expects those options to be available for workers later this year. The company already provides off-site child care for beef plant workers in Amarillo, Texas, who work the evening shift.”

What we’re doing: Attracting greater numbers of women to the manufacturing sector has been a primary goal of the MI.

• As part of its 35×30 campaign, an initiative to increase the percentage of women in the industry to 35% by 2030, the MI is gathering case studies and best practices to furnish the sector with workforce-building solutions.
• The MI also recently held a webinar featuring speakers from Toyota, Cornerstone Building Brands, Pioneer Service Inc. and 3M on child care solutions for manufacturers.
• You can also find out more about what manufacturers are doing by reading our past coverage of Toyota, Vermeer, Pella Corp., WAFCO and i2M.