Sukup, Toyota Ramp Up Child Care Benefits for Workers
When manufacturers see their team members struggling to find convenient, high-quality child care solutions, they’re increasingly offering their own solutions (Manufacturing Dive).
What’s going on: Sheffield, Iowa–based Sukup Manufacturing Co., a maker of farm equipment that employs some 600 people, saw just such a need a few years ago.
- So the company “formed a coalition with West Fork School District and United Bank & Trust Co. to raise money for a local child care center. The group applied for and received a state matching grant of $1.25 million for the estimated $3.3 million project. Following a year of construction, Bin Town Child Care officially opened November 2024.”
- Today, the center, which has capacity for 112 youngsters, also serves the local community. Currently about 60 spots are filled, one-third of those by the children of Sukup employees.
Expanding existing offerings: At Toyota, employees have been able to count on onsite child care since 1993, when the company opened its first center at its factory in Georgetown, Kentucky.
- In August, the auto manufacturer announced expansions to its care offerings at plants in North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia. All will be open by 2027.
- Toyota also recently expanded its Princeton, Indiana, child care center “to accommodate up to 366 children over two shifts.”
Why it’s important: With manufacturing job openings still hovering around pre-pandemic levels, companies are keen to offer benefits that will attract and keep workers. One of the most prized benefits today is child care.
- “As we went through COVID and things like that, there was a lot of talk about child care, and the team members’ needs kind of shifted around,” Myriah Sweeney, general manager for people and property services for Toyota North America, told Manufacturing Dive. “They weren’t asking for child care prior to that … or it didn’t seem to be as big of an issue.”
- The article cites a 2023 study by the Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s 501(c) 3 workforce development and education affiliate, which found that child care is a top concern for both employers and workers in the industry.
The MI says: “Access to child care has long been a major concern for manufacturing workers, which means it’s also been a major concern for manufacturing leaders,” MI President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee said.
- “These manufacturers are leading the way in innovative, generous and employee-first offerings, enabling more workers to build long-term careers in manufacturing.”