Childcare has long been left out of workforce development conversations, despite the vast number of working parents who depend on it to be present and productive at work. In December’s blog, we described how critical childcare is to the semiconductor industry, discussed the dismal state of childcare in the US, and shared how SEMI Foundation and Policy Equity Group are providing support to semiconductor companies through Chips Childcare. In this blog, we’ll delve into our process for helping SEMI members and share what we have learned from work we’ve engaged in with your industry peers. Learn more and hear directly from Policy Equity Group and SEMI members Calumet Technologies and TSMC AZ at our free upcoming webinar, “Chips Childcare: Strategies and Solutions to Help Companies Meet Workforce Needs” on April 8, 2025 at 10 am PT/1 pm ET. Register here. Childcare Planning ProcessFigure 1. Graphic Display of Childcare Plan ProcessOur work with companies is defined by a four-step process, seen in Figure 1, that includes: 1) conducting an employee survey (demand) and analyzing local childcare markets (supply), 2) identifying publicly funded childcare options, 3) examining employer options, and 4) weaving all this information together into a tailored childcare plan.While this overall approach continues to guide our work, the last few months have taught us that companies are at different places in their childcare journey. Some already have extensive data on employee childcare needs and preferences but want a better understanding of the extent to which childcare capacity meets their employees’ needs. Some are engaged in initial conversations with individual providers and/or school systems or are providing stipends to employees but are interested in thought partnership with childcare experts to understand additional options. Others are starting from scratch. No matter where a company is in their childcare planning, Chips Childcare adds value as we employ our deep expertise in childcare systems to navigate the complexities of childcare and to fit the pieces together for a plan tailored to an individual company. To give you an idea of what this looks like in practice, we are spotlighting the employee childcare survey and market analysis. Employee SurveySuccessful childcare plans are responsive to and reflect the needs and preferences of employees. Our ready-to-implement employee child care survey helps companies avoid creating a plan that does not support employee needs. This survey can be customized to a company, and we take on the data collection and analysis responsibilities to reduce time and cost to a company. Not surprisingly, in implementing these surveys, we have found childcare is unaffordable and lacking in availability in general. However, this process has also uncovered variation and nuances within employee needs and preferences. For example, employees at one company reported that their current childcare arrangements were not their ideal, though the ideal differed by age of the children (see Figure 2 for infant and toddler care). Those with infants and toddlers preferred family childcare or center-based care, while parents of 4-year-olds preferred school-based programming, and parents of school-age children often preferred parental care before-and after-school. We also discovered that several families were likely eligible for publicly funded childcare subsidies or state pre-K but were not accessing these options. Using this data, we were better able to forecast the types of providers to look for during the child-care capacity analysis and highlight areas for HR to engage in awareness building with employees. In our experience, survey findings confirm anecdotal evidence and provide a more nuanced understanding of challenges and opportunities.Figure 2. Example of Difference between Current and Ideal Care Arrangements of Employees with Infants and Toddlers. CC stands for childcare.Market Capacity AnalysisThe childcare capacity analysis illuminates the current supply of providers on key indicators such as cost of care (e.g., tuition), days and hours of operation, quality, and ages served (e.g., infant and toddler, preschooler, school-age). What we learn from the analysis is useful in identifying latent capacity to leverage now and to identify gaps in types of care important to employees for further exploration. It can also help in understanding the cost of care for families to better ensure any company-provided child care stipends are meaningfully reducing the cost burdens employees face. Figure 3. Example of Capacity Mapping Using Zip Codes. The red and white circle indicates the plant site. The blue circles represent providers.We recently engaged in a childcare capacity analysis for areas: 1) near the fab site, 2) zip codes where the majority employees live, and 3) where apprentice instruction will take place. By exploring different scenarios, we were able to provide the company with information that could be tailored to different employee preferences (e.g., close to the fab or closer to their residence) and to think through options to support employees in accessing available care. Figure 3 shows a high-level example of mapping available care against a fabrication site.The childcare market analysis can also be used to engage in conversation with local and state early childhood policymakers around gaps in supply and to understand what roles companies can play in supporting current and planned initiatives to address them.Lessons LearnedThese activities yielded important early lessons. While childcare vexes employers across the US, the pain points companies experience differ by the size of the company, geography (e.g., urban/rural), whether the company is in an area of new development or older building supply, and implications of local and state policies, to name a few. This underscores why individual company planning is so important to ensure alignment with the community context. We have also gained data to provide further evidence on key issues in child care. For example, while we knew 2nd and 3rd shift workers faced challenges in finding licensed evening or overnight care, the analyses we’ve done provide hard data on how this type of care is non-existent in most areas where employees live and where companies are located. Ultimately, the work underscores the incredible complexity of childcare. Childcare planning does not have to be daunting. Through Chips Childcare, SEMI Foundation and Policy Equity Group are here to help. Learn more from your peers who have engaged in this work by signing up for our webinar on April 8, 2025 at 10 am PT / 1pm ET, or contact Jeff Capizzano at Policy Equity Group at [email protected] or Michelle Williams at SEMI Foundation at [email protected]. Melissa Dahlin is Senior Director at Policy Equity Group, an early childhood consultancy whose work provides individualized support to meet clients’ needs and help turn their values into actions and impact. With our partners, we create stronger early childhood systems that collectively improve developmental, educational, health, and nutritional outcomes for children across the country.
