While many employers have implemented new workplace policies to keep top employees in place, Chief’s survey found that there’s a huge disconnect between what companies think women want at work versus what they actually need.

Aligning work and caregiving is critical for business outcomes and crucial to an equitable economic recovery.

When Heather Kirkby reflects back on the time when her kids were little, she can only describe them as the “chaos years.” “When I became a working parent I felt so alone,” says Kirkby, chief people officer at Recursion Pharmaceuticals in Salt Lake City

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mass closure of schools and child care facilities, the child care crisis has been brought to the fore of public awareness. As of April 2022, child care and other care jobs are still 12 percent below pre-COVID levels, while total jobs have almost fully recovered (1 percent below). Yet, deficiencies in child care infrastructure, like high costs and unequal access, have been affecting children and parents since well before the pandemic.