Employers looking for ways to recruit and retain working parents may want to take a close look at their child care benefits.

Working parents increasingly view child care not as a perk but as essential to productivity, retention and loyalty, the latest KinderCare Confidence Index found. Eighty-five percent of all working parents say child care benefits should be treated as essential, on par with health and retirement benefits.

"Employers have a real opportunity right now," said Dan Figurski, president of KinderCare for employers and champions. "When companies make child care easier to access and understand, parents can stay focused on their careers, and businesses see the payoff in productivity, loyalty and long-term performance."

Despite this strong demand, only 1 in 3 employers currently offers child care benefits, the survey found. Unreliable daycare is forcing parents to make difficult tradeoffs, often at the expense of their careers:

  • Three-quarters of working parents say they know people who are leaving the workforce because of child care challenges.
  • More than a quarter say they have either considered quitting or have quit their job entirely as a result.
  • More than a quarter of working parents say they have no backup or emergency child care option if their primary care falls through.

The day-to-day impacts already are widespread. Parents report missing work (50%), reducing work hours (35%) and experiencing tension with managers (28%) and coworkers (24%) because of a lack of reliable child care.

The implications for employers extend far beyond a benefits strategy. Eighty-one percent of parents say they wish their employer understood that reliable child care is key to their productivity, and two-thirds admit that unreliable care has negatively affected their work performance in the past. At the same time, support represents a powerful loyalty incentive, with 8 in 10 parents saying they would be more loyal to their company if their employer supported them better as a parent.

"As daycare costs rise and access remains uncertain, parents are clear," the survey report concluded. "Child care is no longer a perk. It's a business imperative."

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