Europeans increasingly wish for childcare at work
London, 30 October 2016
The subject of childcare at work has become increasingly important in recent years. Employers and employees from different countries report that knowing the own child being cared for within the premises of the enterprise would be an incredibly relieving feeling.
Additionally, it saves a lot of time not having to drive to the other end of town to bring their child to childcare and then driving to work afterwards. According to the recent poll of Jobswype, many more people would want this. Even though childcare at work is not very common in most countries yet, there are some examples in Sweden, England as well as in the United States proving that it can work out very well. The investment-banking enterprise “Goldman and Sachs”, situated in London for instance, created an on-site childcare in 2003. Employees can make use of it free of charge four weeks after parental leave to facilitate the transition back to work. Later, they can use the full time on-site childcare throughout the rest of the year to a certain fixed price. It is therefore not surprising that not a single country in our poll was against the implementation of childcare at work. The share of proponents in all countries lies between 64 % (Germany) and even 87 % (Hungary). Of course, it is also important to note that the implementation of childcare at work must be well considered and requires not only sufficient financial but also special resources. But if there is a will on the part of the enterprise, there will always be an option: smaller enterprises could for instance join together with one or two other enterprises and form a child care for their employees´ children positioned between the enterprises, or first only offering a part-time childcare. Some enterprises for instance allow their employees to bring their children to work, should anything unpredictable happen or their plans changing unexpectedly. There are many possibilities of how a childcare at work could look like and all enterprises have to make that decision for them. But it is undisputed that childcare at work is a topic offering good potential for further developments in the future.1000 users took part in this poll from September 2016.
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