As working parents have shifted to hybrid work schedules, they also moved to hybrid babysitters to respond to their flexible schedules and budgets.
Nannies working full-time shifts and nine-to-five daycare options have become a thing of the past. Working parents are replacing full-time sitters with more customizable and affordable care options a few days a week. Parents are opting to hire a babysitter two days a week and other arrangements to respond to the realities of hybrid work and the increasing cost of child care, per Axios.
A significant change in childcare
As per Care.com CEO Tim Allen, working parents are now shifting to childcare that can respond to their fluid work-from-home schedules. He added that working parents do not need the typical nine-to-five nanny or nine-to-five daycare. They would only require the babysitter for at least two days a week or hire them to pick up the child from school and stay for a couple of hours while she is at work.
However, the hybrid babysitter arrangements are a luxury for working Americans who do not have the option to work at home.
Urban sitter also notes a rising trend where more families pool resources for nanny shares during the pandemic, which became known as the "pod." Families are finding a single care provider to ensure their availability for minimum hours a week but are also willing to adjust to their client's schedules.
As per Fortune, the hybrid babysitter arrangement became a more economical alternative to daycare and nannies.
After-school babysitting rates now cost an average of $261 a week, while childcare rates now cost $226 a week if parents can find someone available. Babysitters are now charging $30 an hour. The increase in the rate has encouraged former teachers, daycare workers, tutors, occupational therapists, and other professional workers to take on the job. The credentials helped drive babysitting fees faster, which is good news for babysitters who have been underpaid for a long time.
As the need for working parents shifted, more nannies are taking multiple jobs to maximize their income. Families have also resorted to hiring more than one sitter to cover for the week in case the primary babysitter is unavailable.
Impact of rising childcare costs on parents
Parents report that more than 20 percent of their income is now allocated to childcare, as daycare and nannies have become more expensive and inaccessible. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says affordable childcare is 7 percent of the family's allocation, way lesser than the 20 percent childcare allocation that working parents now spend.
As per Care.com, 59 percent of parents are concerned about the recent childcare costs. Parents tended to cut back on essentials like vacations and travels, leisure activities, food and dining, clothing, and extracurricular activities to provide kids with childcare. Thirty-one percent (31%) of parents have considered taking a second job, reducing work hours, changing jobs, or leaving the workforce entirely to afford childcare.
Working parents also report that finding childcare is difficult despite the change in rates. The inability to find reliable childcare pushed a significant number of working mothers to get out of the workforce.
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