Apr 21, 20225 min read

Long-term Benefits to Offering ParentsFlexible Child Care Hours at Daycare Centers

Overview: Learn how flexible child care hours can benefit everyone involved in the child care center, from staff to families

In this article, we'll be covering the following topics related to flexible child care hour benefits:

What a "flexible care" approach means for staff & families
The purpose of flexible care for child care centers
How the Flexible Care Program works (examples of our unique approach)

Directors of child care centers can experience "a mountain of paperwork" while teachers struggle to "track a child’s learning progress against developmental milestones," quotes an article on the Daily Connect.

Of course, parents aren't left out of these challenges, either. And those challenges listed above are just a few of many that plague those involved in a daycare center.

However, while such challenges continue to prove true, solutions have been implemented to help daycare centers and registered families experience simplified child care that suits their budget and schedule. One authoritative solution is to embrace child care hours that are flexible for both parents' and daycare staff schedules.

WHAT A "FLEXIBLE CARE" APPROACH MEANS FOR STAFF & FAMILIES:

Programs such as our Flexible Care Program (also called Flexible Care) have been developed to simplify child care. This type of program takes a customized approach to child care, focusing on flexible child care hours that work around schedules, not through them. One child care center refers to this approach as "flexi care" and summarizes it as:

"[Children] go to the child care centre for a few hours a day, instead of fixed half or full day programmes." Our flexible program is part of the tool (one of the only tools available) that removes the headache behind a fixed schedule. How, though, can a program that offers flexible child care hours benefit help child care staff and enrolled families? For Center Directors:

If your childcare center isn’t providing flexible hours of care, you are missing a huge opportunity to earn more! Why will parents pay a childcare center more per hour simply because the center is offering the hours the parents need? We understand this might sound counterproductive at first, but offering a flexible schedule for child care benefits childcare centers in the long-term. This is because a parent who only needs 20 hours of care per week would gladly pay a higher rate per hour for those 20 hours, rather than a lower rate for 50 hours they can’t fully use. We conducted a year-long study in our own centers and found that

● 46 percent of parents who started their children in flexible care increased their usage over time and ●eventually switched to higher revenue full-time programs. ● This resulted in an average revenue increase of 1.9 percent per week. The reality (and psychology) behind the less hours, more pay is that most people simply don't want to spend money on something they can't use. It's all about maximizing. This takes us into the second point about how families will benefit from this approach.

For Families:

Now, if there's one thing the pandemic taught parents, it's that: [Parents] need child care in order to be able to focus 100% on their jobs. And that child care needs to be flexible enough to adapt to their unique working arrangements.

For some parents, the solution to child care has been to work alternate shifts. You may work the night shift while your spouse or partner works the day.

Often, these arrangements require relatives or friends to fill in the gaps and overlap of work hours as well as the times when the schedule begins to fall apart, leaving little time for parents or the entire family to have together. It's a tight schedule.

>> Continue Reading: Finding Child Care for Non-Traditional Work Schedules

Thus, finding a daycare center that offers flexible hours is the perfect solution for those who:

●Need care over holidays and/or school breaks

●Work part-time

● Have an irregular schedule

●Stay at home but need an occasional "dayoff"

Parents need child care during their working hours, whenever they may be. The search for child care can be difficult and the choices few. So, let's consider how our Flexible Care Program works.

HOW THE FLEXIBLE CARE PROGRAM WORKS (EXAMPLES):

There's no denying that changing schedules and unusual hours in a job are serious issues for many working parents. However, there are currently few child care programs for those families that need care during non- traditional hours. Offering ﬂexible scheduling options for families is ideal now more than ever, as many have experienced changes in their work routine that could be addressed with ease if more child care centers offer fexiblel hours.

>> Read More: Why Flexible Child Care is the Key Benefit to Offer Today As we consider how our Flexible Care Program works, you can take a look at this page and scroll down to the two charts to get a better visual of the benefits: If you typically charge $200 per week for a full-time slot (50 hours of possible care),the parent is paying $4 per hour.

Most families appreciate that with a bit of communication and the right tools on the expected schedule, they can pay $6 per hour for the 20 hours they really want to use instead of paying for 30 hours they aren’t using.

When combined with other families’ needs, for example another family wanting 20 hours at different times, the daycare is able to make $240 for the entire full-time slot, and each family has a weekly bill of only $120.

THE WIN/WIN/WIN SCENARIO:

By generating more revenue from fewer hours (42 versus 50), the daycare incurs lower costs to serve these families and thus boosts its profits.

This is the win/win/win scenario that is possible when you adopt this philosophy and have a tool like Child Care Seer making it easy.

The more you know about when customers need you, the better you can tailor your offering to meet their needs — and increase your profits.

YOUR DAYCARE CENTER CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS APPROACH:

As we mentioned earlier, there are currently few child care programs for those families that need care during non- traditional hours. However, this doesn't have to be the "norm."

Our goal is to help daycare centers and families implement a flexible child care approach for easy management and money-saving opportunities. This doesn't have to be a scenario of one winner and one loser; everyone can win with ﬂexible daycare hours.

Let us help you maximize the proﬁtability of your business and schedule so you can focus on the children. Get started today for free by clicking here. For more information, check out our Flexible Care page, or watch the demo at your convenience.