How Job Attractiveness Is Shaped by Employer-Provided Childcare Arrangements

Morien El Haj, Eline Moens, Elsy Verhofstadt, Luc Van Ootegem and Stijn Baert ()
Additional contact information
Morien El Haj: Ghent University
Eline Moens: Ghent University
Elsy Verhofstadt: Ghent University
Luc Van Ootegem: Ghent University
Stijn Baert: Ghent University

No 18430, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: In tight labour markets, where employers compete not only on wages but also on amenities such as job family friendliness, employer-provided childcare arrangements serve as a powerful tool to attract and retain working parents. Yet little causal evidence exists on how employees evaluate such benefits. Therefore, this study uses a scenario experiment among working parents of young children to examine how job attractiveness is shaped by variations in employer-provided childcare arrangements – in terms of location, opening hours, and price – along with the possibility of teleworking. Our results show that all forms of employer-provided childcare increase job attractiveness, with childcare facilities operating on schedules explicitly aligned with employees’ working hours having the strongest effects. Working parents are willing to forego a 20% wage increase in a new job to obtain this latter amenity. They expect such amenity to improve their job satisfaction, performance, stress management, and work–family balance. Our results imply that the policy offers mutual gains for both employees and employers.

Keywords: childcare; telework; job attractiveness; willingness to pay; factorial survey experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 J13 J16 J24 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18430.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18430

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Fallak ().