The Building Blocks to Learn
Forming the foundation for success in school, work, and life
Children
The first 1,000 days of life are critical for a child’s development—driven in large part by ongoing, reciprocal, “serve-and-return” interactions with adult caregivers that literally build the architecture of children’s brains.
1-2 million new neural connections
are formed every second during a child’s first 1,000 days
Parents
Young children learn wherever they are—home, childcare, or preschool—so the quality of those environments matter a great deal. But half of Americans live in areas with an undersupply of licensed childcare options, and most of the available options are expensive and not high-quality.
2 million parents of toddlers had quit a job, turned one down, or changed their position due to
childcare issues in 2016
Infant care is difficult to find and afford, with annual costs
reaching well beyond $7,300
The Role of Business
Lack of access to quality and affordable childcare is a significant barrier that limits the supply of talent. Companies that take an active role in helping their employees secure these services generate billions of dollars a year in revenue due to increased workforce participation.
$3 billion in revenue lost annually due to employee absenteeism as the result of childcare breakdowns
Turnover as a result of lack of childcare costs businesses 20% of an hourly
employee's salary and up to 150% of a
manager’s salary
Employer, Lead the Way
The U.S. Chamber Foundation educates employers and empowers them with resources to better support their workforce.
Checklists
Supporting Your Employees and Strengthening Your Bottom Line
You can implement policies at your company to help parents obtain and provide the care their children need, while enabling children to reap the benefits of that care. In the end, these policies bolster your bottom line through increased productivity and the ability of your company to attract and retain the talent it needs to succeed. For those with the financial resources, these provide examples of different ways that you can support your employees.
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Find out what your employees’ needs are | Survey your workforce on their work-family needs, and collect data on utilization rates of your existing programs. |
| Offer flexible work arrangements | Policies such as telecommuting and flexible start/stop times enable employees to better integrate their work responsibilities with their caregiving responsibilities. |
| Educate your employees about their tax and subsidy eligibility | Many of your employees may not be aware of which local, state, and federal tax breaks and programs they may be eligible for to help with the cost of care. Work with your accountant to conduct an educational session or compile a fact sheet for your employees. |
| Create a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for your employees | An FSA provides a tax break for families and is available through the benefits package offered by a company. An FSA can be used to pay for up to $5,000 of childcare-related expenses using pretax dollars. |
| Contribute to or subsidize childcare | Contribute up to $5,000 of the cost of each employee’s child without the subsidy being added to their taxable income. This also saves you from paying employment taxes on that portion because it is not taxed as income. |
| Provide access to a care marketplace or resource and referral service | Provide membership to any number of online marketplaces or resource and referral services that can help your employees identify care in their area. |
| Provide backup care options | Some companies can set up a service for both in-home and center-based backup care for when employees’ regular care arrangements fall through. |
| Provide on-site childcare | Build an on-site childcare center; think about the broadest possible swath of your workforce that could have access to this center. |
Case Studies + Research
External Resources
Preparing for School Success
Building upon that early foundation through the development of cognitive skills
Children
High-quality early education and care programs help 3-5 year-olds develop both cognitive and character skills—including attentiveness, perseverance, self-control, and sociability.
The childcare sector serves 12 million
children under age 6
Children participating in high-quality preschool are more likely to graduate from high school
Parents
Because of the high cost of quality early education, parents are often forced to choose between working or staying home. Affordable, full-day care programs for children ages 3-5 can enable parents to balance work, school, family, and finances all with peace of mind.
1/2 of children under 5 live in homes where both parents work
Parents with children in high-quality learning environments
invest more time in learning activities with
their children at home
The Role of Business
By prioritizing high-quality early education policies and investments, and by informing employees about the importance of high-quality early learning, the business community can help ensure children are positioned to succeed in school, work, and life.
$1 invested in high-quality early childhood
education programs can lead to $16 back in the pockets of the
community That return can be seen in the form of reduced
special education needs, higher rates of grade level retention, reduced incarceration rates,
improved health, positive education and employment outcomes.
When companies provide childcare, employee absences can decrease by 30% and job turnover can decline by
60%
Employer, Lead the Way
The U.S. Chamber Foundation educates employers and empowers them with resources to better support their workforce.
Checklists
Business Leadership for the Country and Economy
As a business leader, you have the ability to influence what issues become priorities for our country. At the local, state, and federal levels, your voices can put childcare on the map with the general public and consumers, as well as with policymakers. Strong leadership from the business community has the power to change the game.
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Put childcare on the map for other business leaders | Propose that care be a top agenda item for any trade groups, business coalitions, and task forces of which you are a part. |
| Advocate for public policy | Advocate for smart and effective public policy on care at the local, state, and federal levels; work with local and federal advocacy groups to create transparency and accountability in the childcare system so that everyone better understands how money is spent and quality is ensured. |
| Join sign-on letters or pledges | Offer to list your name or business on sign-on letters, pledges, and the like, that aim to advance the issue of childcare. You can often find out more about these letters through the local, state, and national coalitions and advocacy groups working on this issue. |
| Use your public voice to drive the conversation | Write an op-ed or blog post for a regional or state publication, engage in already existing social media campaigns related to care, or use your own social media to make your voice heard. |
| Use your customer base or membership base to influence | Use your customer base or chamber membership base to share information about why childcare is important to your company and its employees or business more broadly. Include the topic of childcare and its relevance to your workforce or your personal story and relationship to childcare in your company’s newsletter. |
| Make public appearances | Host a speaker at your board or company meeting or leadership retreat on the relevance of early education and care to your company; offer and agree to be a speaker at a local, state, or federal event on early care and education. |
Case Studies + Research
External Resources
Learning To Read, Reading To Learn
Establishing the basic reading skills critical for future success in school
Children
Ages 5-8 are key for developing literacy skills, as children transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Unless students establish basic reading skills by the end of third grade, the rest of their education will be an uphill battle. It is imperative that all students receive high-quality reading instruction at this age, as well as in earlier years.
Only 37% of fourth graders are reading at grade level
Students who do not read proficiently by third grade are
3x more likely to leave high school without a diploma
Parents
Parents play a critical role in supporting their child\'s learning, including during their early years at school. Today, many working parents rely on after-school programs to care for their children, primarily between the hours of 3–6 p.m.
1 in 5 children are alone and unsupervised from 3-6 p.m.
8 in 10 working parents feel that after-school programs give them peace of mind and help them keep
their jobs
The Role of Business
Businesses can support families by connecting employees to resources that help them stay engaged in their child’s learning. Speaking out and donating in support of early education across industries can also make a powerful impact.
Due to lapses in after school care, parents can lose up to 8 days of work and businesses can lose upwards of
$300 billion a year
Children with no after-school activities miss
out on valuable learning opportunities
Employer, Lead the Way
The U.S. Chamber Foundation educates employers and empowers them to use their voice and support the development of both the workforce of today and tomorrow.
Checklists
Opportunities for Business Engagement
Ten things you can do to advance access to high-quality early childhood education and care.
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Join Forces | Join or build an early childhood business coalition to educate and engage peers and the public. Business leaders make powerful public messengers for support of public investment in effective early care and learning programs. |
| Set the Policy Agenda | Leverage your influence to serve as a public policy advocate for young children. Include childcare in your local business organization’s legislative agenda. Sign onto or create a policy statement in support of high-quality childcare. |
| Make the Business Case | Promote early learning policies as part of the economic development agenda. Help business colleagues and policymakers understand the economic benefits that highquality childcare brings to states and local communities. |
| Speak Out for Children | Share your knowledge through speaking engagements, op-eds, and blogs that highlight the impact of high-quality childcare on children, families, local businesses, and regional economic development. Launch a media campaign with local partners to focus public attention on the critical role childcare plays in improved school achievement and a stronger regional economy. |
| Contribute Through Philanthropy | Invest your philanthropic dollars in organizations and providers that support early care and learning programs for low-income children. Target corporate social responsibility funds to programs and initiatives that support high-quality childcare, like scholarship programs that help ensure low-income children have access to high quality programs. Donate materials like books and art supplies to under-resourced local childcare providers. |
| Lead by Example | Adopt policies that support your employees who have young children. Implement a childcare benefits program and consider establishing an on-site childcare center. Employees who know that their children are in safe, reliable, and high-quality environments are more engaged, productive workers. |
