Surveys link workforce, childcare shortages
Lack of care impacts employee retention
Trending
Surveys conducted for a Minot committee looking for childcare solutions show a linkage between lack of childcare and the community's workforce shortage.
The committee, which met Tuesday, received results of recent surveys of employers and parents, conducted through Odney. The unscientific survey was voluntarily taken by 101 parents and 177 employers with a combined 8,047 employees.
According to the survey, in the past year 43% of employers had lost employees due to lack of childcare, 41% had applicants turn down jobs for lack of childcare and 36% had employees who didn't return from maternity or paternity leave due to childcare issues.
Sixteen percent of parents reported they had to leave a job due to childcare in the past year, while 27% turned down a job offer and 23.5% weren't able to return after maternity or paternity leave.
Three of four employers in the survey reported they conduct exit interviews when employees leave, and they reported 28% of employees listed lack of childcare as a reason for their departures.
Of parents in the survey, nearly 37% were looking for childcare. Half of those not currently looking had looked in the past year.
Asked about the difficulty of finding childcare, parents rated the experience 4.41 on a 0-5 scale in which 5 is high difficulty. They listed the biggest hurdles to finding/keeping childcare as affordability and availability.
A large number of employers and employees responded they were not aware of existing childcare assistance programs through the state.
"One of the issues that parents are seeing is affordability. If we can get them connected with some of the grants that are available through the state, that should be helpful to them," said committee and city council member Lisa Olson. She also noted the obvious impact of the childcare shortage on employers.
"It seems like a logical kind of collaboration to make with some kind of private-public collaboration because the need is there. We need to work together to try to find an answer to this," Olson said.
The survey found employers were most willing to offer flexible hours and remote work to aid employees struggling with childcare, while parents would most appreciate childcare cost assistance and on-site daycare.
Terry Schmalz, representing Hess Corp., said operational cost and space are challenges for businesses in starting on-site childcare. The committee also discussed the reality that businesses are experts in their industries but know little about the regulations and operations associated with a childcare facility. Schmalz said multiple businesses would need to collaborate with a partner who knows childcare to establish a sustainable center to serve their employees.
The committee plans to meet again Sept. 26.