10/30/2024

To Support its Return-to-office Mandate, Walmart Adds Onsite Child Care

This is often a huge hurdle for parents who don't want to pay for daycare

One of the biggest hurdles for parents returning to in-person work is finding adequate childcare. Shortages of childcare workers mean access is limited, and costs continue to climb. But some major employers are trying to solve this by bringing childcare to the office itself.

In May, Walmart opened a childcare center for staff at its new home office campus in Arkansas. The center, spread across two large buildings, accommodates over 500 children, from infancy to pre-K. It stands to be the largest childcare offering in the Northwest Arkansas region, poised to increase local market capacity by 15 percent, according to the retail giant.

Around the same time the center opened, the company announced a return-to-office (RTO) policy requiring staff to come in and work at its headquarters in Arkansas or at other hubs in New Jersey and California. More recently, other major employers have announced stronger RTO policies, like Amazon, which is requiring staff back in offices five days a week starting at the beginning of 2025.

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