Child care a rare employee perk in Canada
Canwest News Service
Eric Beauchesne
Oct 28

OTTAWA - When it comes to what’s hot and what’s not in job perks, child-care expenses rank at the very bottom, a first-time survey of what Canadian employers are offering their workers reveals.

Only two per cent cover child-care expenses, compared with six in 10 who provide life insurance, the most popular perk, and the close to half who offer car allowances, according to the results of the survey by the Canadian Payroll Association, released Friday.

While child-care expenses are covered by just two per cent of employers, it’s not because the benefit is unpopular but rather that it is a relatively high cost benefit, explained Steven Van Alstine, the payroll association’s vice-president of compliance programs and services.

The perks that are offered are not just what the employees want but what employers can afford, and child-care expenses would be an expensive one, he said in an interview.

“The people that tend to benefit most from child care are the people that can afford it less who tend to be people that aren’t in management or executive roles where commonly more expensive benefits are provided to the employee,” he said.

“If an employer were going to provide child-care benefits to their employee population it would be something that would have to be provided to all employees and would be very costly for the organization.”….