Could on-site childcare lure parents back to the workplace? On-site childcare can cut down on parental stress, up worker engagement and help keep mums in the labor market. Why doesn't everyone offer it? A After almost nine months of working remotely due to the pandemic, Jessika, a 35-year-old living in Asheville, North Carolina, US, has been called back to the office - and she has no idea how she’s going to manage childcare. She’s seven-and-a-half months pregnant and has a five-year-old daughter in Kindergarten. Her soon-to-be new-born is on seven different year-long waiting lists for local childcare centers, and her husband, a beer brewer, can’t work from home. Before her April due date, Jessika and her husband have to figure out who can watch the baby while they’re at work. It’s important Jessika keeps her job as an impact associate at a private health trust, since she is the primary breadwinner in the family. “Mine is the income we can’t lose,” she says. What she wants is employer-sponsored on-site childcare. A dedicated space for her baby at the office would give her a way to breastfeed during the day, reduce her out-of-pocket expenses and cut down on extra commuting. Jessika says this set-up would radically reduce her stress, while allowing her to feel excited about going back to the office. “It’s hard to even fathom,” she says, but on-site childcare is “the dream”. As employees continue to quit jobs en masse in search of better ones, employers are scrambling to retain talent and fill empty seats. This has given many workers leverage over both existing and prospective employers to negotiate benefits that better suit their priorities, many of which were reshuffled amid the pandemic.