Item — HN Reader

As the original commenter said, it is cheaper to pay for childcare than it is to pay money to an employee, have that salary be taxed, and then have that employee pay for childcare with the after-tax salary. Said employee can also drop their child at the office in the morning.

I would take a salary below the market rate if the job came with free childcare, because I'd still have to spend the money and I'd potentially save time on my commute.

This idea that companies "don't care about workers" is absurd. If anything other than the TC for a job has ever mattered to you, the company offering the thing that mattered has probably saved money on your salary.

2 comments

Part of the issue is parents are picky about who watches their kids.

I’m religious. I want my kids to have a religious daycare.

A friend of mine isn’t religious, but is an immigrant and wants her kids watched after by someone who can teach the kid their parent’s language.

Childcare is Gemeinschaft, not Gesellschaft.

Don't think I saw it so will bring up that wouldn't it be a gap between employees with kids and not? If paying below market, there would be little reason for a single person to pick it over another company that does, assuming confidence to change jobs if they become less single.

Assuming companies don't want an entire workforce of parents for various reasons, paying at market and providing childcare benefits would be the only option. Then the whole shareholders win argument takes hold since income would go down. Most likely miniscule impact, but that satisfy some investor types.

Otherwise, government just has to require it for all companies over certain thresholds. And that becomes the cultural issue. For countries with smaller governments, I guess competition becomes the only venue. We are seeing more public-benefit corporations, which should be able to provide company benefits more easily than shareholder companies. And if startup performance finally picks up in this AI age (well, probably not ;), big companies might be incentivized to retain by providing more benefits.