Arkansas Employer Child Care Toolkit
Investing in family-friendly policies and child care can boost employee morale and job satisfaction, reduce turnover, and increase productivity.
A Child Care Toolkit for Employers
The Arkansas Employer Child Care Toolkit is designed to help employers understand an array of options to better support the child care needs of employees.
- Access to child care impacts the ability of employers to recruit and retain employees.
- Child care challenges impact both employee productivity and employer profitability.
Boost Your Company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
When it comes to today’s competitive jobs market, recruiting and retaining talented employees is essential for every business. The best way to recruit and retain top talent is by understanding why employees look to leave a job and what policies could foster company loyalty and a culture of respect and engagement that leads to higher productivity.
Arkansas Statistics
136,908
Children under age 6 in Arkansas with working parents
183,218
School-age children (ages 6-12) in Arkansas with working parents
69.7%
Working mothers in Arkansas with children under age 6
78.5%
Working mothers in Arkansas with school-age children
Arkansas Employer Champions
Goodwill Industries
Springdale, AR
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas offers free on-site child care through their Excel Center program. This program provides students ages 19 and older the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. The school offers flexible class schedules to meet the needs of working and busy adults and provides support services to remove barriers to high school graduation: free on-site child care, transportation assistance, and a life coach. Learn more.
Goodwill Industries
Little Rock, AR
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas offers free on-site child care through their Excel Center program. This program provides students ages 19 and older the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. The school offers flexible class schedules to meet the needs of working and busy adults and provides support services to remove barriers to high school graduation: free on-site child care, transportation assistance, and a life coach. Learn more.
Nabholz
Central Arkansas
Nabholz, a commercial construction, infrastructure, and industrial services company is headquartered in Central Arkansas with locations also in Fort Smith, Van Buren, Jonesboro, and Northwest Arkansas. Company benefits include free health insurance, paid vacation & holidays, retirement, and 6 weeks of paid parental leave to care for a newborn or adoptive child. Learn more.
Farmers Bank & Trust Blytheville, AR
Farmers Bank & Trust offers a wide range of benefits including paid time off, sick pay, health & dental insurance, and retirement. The company covers 50% of employee child care costs up to $5,000 annually, paid directly to licensed child care providers. Learn more.
Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic Hot Springs Nat. Park, AR
Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic offers a wide range of benefits including paid time off, sick pay, health & dental insurance, and retirement. The company contributes up to $5,000 annually to an employee's Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP). Learn more about how DCAPs benefit employers and employees.
Tyson Foods
Springdale, Arkansas
Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, AR, offers a wide range of family benefits including an Employee Assistance Program, a Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP) to enable employees to set aside up to $5,000 tax-free annually to reimburse for child care expenses, a health savings account, which allows reimbursement for health expenses, and up to eight weeks of paid parental leave. Onsite child care is offered in several locations. Learn more.
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR
The University of Arkansas Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and serves children eight weeks to five years old. The program began with a $2.5 million lead gift from the Tyson Family Foundation and the Tyson Foods Foundation for the center, which provides care for more than 140 children. Learn more.
Walmart
Bentonville, Arkansas
Walmart’s Little Squiggles child care center is operated in partnership with Bright Horizons. The center is spread across two large buildings, which can accommodate over 500 children from infancy to pre-K. Walmart benefits include health insurance, an Employee Assistance Plan, paid time off, including paid sick leave, as well as up to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of parental leave. Walmart associates know their work schedule two weeks in advance so they can prioritize their well-being and plan for life outside of work. Learn more.
Recent Media Coverage CEO Leadership
- Farmers Bank & Trust
- Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic
- Ingeborg Investments
Share Your Story!
If you have an employer-led child care initiative that you would like to see included on this page, please contact us at info@excelby8.net so that we can spotlight your success!
About the Toolkit
Excel by Eight partners with families and communities to improve health and education outcomes for Arkansas children prenatal to age eight. Our team of policy makers, health care professionals, educators, nonprofit leaders, business leaders, and community organizers are committed to increasing children’s health and education outcomes by:
- Building models for change in communities around the state.
- Identifying policy barriers that make it difficult for communities to build and strengthen their grids of resources.
- Enhancing public understanding of early childhood development to encourage action to build strong resource grids statewide.
Since 2020, Excel by Eight has mobilized Arkansas businesses to identify workable solutions that address the three critical elements of the child care crisis – accessibility, affordability, and quality – and its impact on the state’s current and future workforce. Quality child care is essential to a thriving Arkansas economy and businesses can play a key role in expanding access to child care for employees. Working parents need safe, reliable, and affordable child care to build successful careers, remain contributing members of the workforce, and support their families.
The Committee for Economic Development (CED) is the public policy center of The Conference Board. The nonprofit, nonpartisan, business-led organization delivers well-researched analysis and reasoned solutions in the nation’s interest. CED Trustees are chief executive officers and key executives of leading US companies who bring their unique experience to address today’s pressing policy issues. Collectively they represent 30+ industries and over 4 million employees.