of its U.S. workers a premium membership in the referral service Care.com, a perk that usually runs about $150 a year. The workers can choose someone from Care.com’s referral network to care for their kids at home for $1 an hour, or bring the youngsters to one of the provider’s facilities for $5 a day. The offer is capped at 10 days of backup care. Kerbey Lane All Day Café in Austin, Texas, gives employees a bonus whenever they pick up a shift from a co-worker who had to cancel because they couldn’t find a back-up babysitter. WHERE’S THE DATA? A major step in helping the cause would be addressing the dearth of data on the matter, Streufert continues. “It’s espe- cially important with this issue because there’s no government entity that owns childcare,” she says. “Even basic data, like how many childcare slots are licensed but not used because we don’t have enough teachers.” The one thing the industry cannot do, she stresses, is shrug and figure the challenge is too great to ever be resolved. “I don’t get that,” she says. “The most common reaction I get is, ‘Thank God y’all are looking at this. No one has really given us an idea about what to do about it, so it’s great you’re looking at it.’” One reality that works in favor of bringing childcare within reach of more employees is the bipartisan interest the matter currently enjoys. Republicans are focused on how government can play a role without fostering more em-
“Thank God y’all are looking at this. No one has really given us an idea about what to do about it, so it’s great you’re looking at it.” —KELSEY STREUFERT, CHIEF OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR THE TEXAS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION her efforts to crack the problem. “There are problems that look too big to be solved but eventual- ly are,” she says, acknowledging that most restaurant employers didn’t think 20 years ago that they’d ever be able to extend any form of healthcare to their workers. Plus, she says, “part of the reason we need to shape this matter is so we’re not given a ‘solution.’ That’s what we don’t want. “This has become my passion project. Some might say my obses- sion.”
ILLUSTRATION BY MIDJOURNEY/DIMITRI MORSON
ployer mandates or government involvement, while Democrats see the issue as a critical component to fostering education and wellbeing among the less advantaged. There’s also ample and irrefut- able evidence that a childcare solu- tion would deliver on the larger ob- jective of improving the industry’s reputation as an employer. “The convenience of commuting together was a welcomed surprise, and sometimes on Fridays, I pop down to have lunch with my kiddo,” saya an employee from Starbucks’
support center in Seattle, where Bright Horizons provides care sub- sidized by the coffee giant. “I won't have this benefit forever as she pre- pares for kindergarten in the fall, but while we have it, we're soaking it in.” The anonymous worker’s com- ment was provided by a Starbucks spokesperson. The scope of the challenge isn’t daunting to Streufert, who’s draw- ing a lot of attention from other state associations and even the Na- tional Restaurant Association for
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OCTOBER 2024 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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