Advice and mediation of care solutions

The search for suitable childcare as well as weighing up and organizing the right childcare solutions is very time-consuming and often nerve-wracking for parents. Good advice and finding suitable childcare solutions can be a great relief for working parents.

Companies have the opportunity to support their employees in these matters without a great deal of organizational effort on their part. This is because there are numerous service providers who offer advice and arrange support to varying degrees. Companies can commission such a service provider to provide this service for their own employees. This gives families in the workforce the opportunity to find individual solutions for themselves.

A childcare advice and placement service usually includes the following services:

• Advice and written information material on all childcare issues: forms of childcare, local offers and address lists of childcare facilities, databases of caregivers, checklists as well as legal and contractual information (templates for contracts, guidelines, e.g. on the deductibility of childcare costs, forms of employment for domestic staff), background information (e.g. pedagogical topics).

• Placement of childminders, nannies, au pairs, emergency care, babysitters and research of suitable facilities and vacancies.

• Events, lectures and courses on childcare topics, vacation programs or parent meetings.

The costs of the service are borne by the company so that employees can take advantage of the advice and placement services free of charge. According to § 3 No. 34a EStG, childcare placement services are tax-free for employees. They must be available to all employees of the company so that no non-cash benefit arises.

Parents generally pay the fees and charges for the childcare provided themselves. If you would also like to support this, this can be done under certain conditions with a childcare cost subsidy to the parents (link to the relevant MuF page) or by paying the costs directly to the caregiver (e.g. in the case of in-house care, company daycare or care in a backup facility - links to the relevant MuF pages).

What are the advantages and benefits of such a service?

• Many employees are reached. An advice and placement service is available to all employees, depending on the scope of the contract. It entails fewer restrictions than places in a childcare facility, which are usually only available to a small number of families - and only with children within a certain age range.

• Individual solutions can be implemented close to home. An advice and placement service can search for and arrange individually suitable solutions. Special needs can also be met, e.g. care for just a few hours a week or bilingual care. Companies whose employees come from a large catchment area can use this service to help their employees find care solutions in their place of residence.

• A wide range of services is possible. Service providers that operate nationwide in particular often have a wide range of offers for children of all ages and the most diverse requirements of parents.

• The financial outlay for companies is lower than for daycare places. A consulting and placement service is significantly cheaper than having your own daycare center or kindergarten. No investment is required and the company does not have to make a long-term commitment.

• Reduction in absenteeism and greater employee concentration. When childcare is secured, employees can concentrate better and are more productive. An advice and placement service can also arrange childcare at short notice - e.g. an emergency mother if the child is ill and stays at home. This reduces absenteeism.

• An early return from parental leave is made easier. Good support in finding suitable childcare and a range of advice specifically for working mothers encourages women to return to work more quickly after the birth of their child.

What are the costs?

The prices for using a consulting and placement service are very individual. Among other things, they are influenced by the respective range of services, the number of components of the service that are used, the size of the company and the type of consulting and placement contract concluded. The price can often also be controlled by the scope of the service that is to be made available to employees.

The following factors influence the price:

• Organizational form of the provider (commercial providers vs. publicly funded providers)

• Presence of the provider (national vs. local provider; national providers are worthwhile if your company has several locations or the employees come from a large catchment area)

• Range of services offered by the provider (do they "only" provide childminders, nannies and babysitters or also emergency care, au pairs and domestic help? Is support offered in the search for a place in a childcare facility?)

• Guarantee services of the provider (more expensive providers often offer a new search if parents are not satisfied with the care).

• Quality and depth of the offer (e.g: How many potential counselors are suggested? Is there only a short telephone consultation or other communication channels, e.g. detailed personal consultation appointments on site, chat, e-mail, webinars, 24-hour hotline)?

• Special services and offers (e.g. websites / downloads with further information and materials, free events for parents, e.g. first aid courses, parenting topics)

The type of contract between the service provider and your company can also have an important influence on the pricing. It can range from billing for each individual request to an annual lump sum for all employee requests.

It is very important that the advisory and placement service is available to all employees of the company so that it does not have to be taxed as a non-cash benefit by individual employees.

Communication and evaluation of the offer

If you commission a counseling and placement service, you must publicize this very well among the workforce. Employees should be continuously informed about the option so that they are aware of the service and make use of it when needed. As long as there is no need, many employees will not take advantage of such a service. If at some point a childcare solution is sought for their own child, the company's offer is no longer necessarily present. Regular information also ensures that new employees become familiar with the advice and placement service.

You should therefore repeatedly draw attention to this through various communication channels. In addition to the classic information channels, such as newsletters and notice boards, there are, for example, the options of mentioning it on the payslip, distributing hotline business cards when taking parental leave or an info slot for managers, team leaders and works councils. The brochure in the info box also offers tips for communicating family-friendly benefits in the company.

From time to time, it should be checked to what extent advice and mediation are accepted. As a rule, the selected provider documents how often the service is used and how satisfied the users are. You can also use a short questionnaire to find out what your employees think about the advice and placement service. You can find an example of a questionnaire that you can use for such a survey in the info box.