Corporate Daycare: An Aid to Working Parents

For the longest time, Indian children have been raised by the chaos, quarrels and love of uncles, aunts, grandparents — aka a joint family. But as joint families give way to nuclear households and dual-income families, childcare too has moved beyond the home, with parents turning to nannies and daycares to fill the gap.

Corporate daycares are emerging as a quiet relief for working parents, offering them the comfort of having their children close while they navigate demanding workdays. But does proximity really ease the guilt of being away from a child? And amid growing concerns over safety and reported cases of abuse at daycares, can parents truly feel reassured?

“For working couples, finding a safe and reliable daycare centre in their neighbourhood is a herculean task. Thus, an in-house daycare facility can therefore make a significant difference,” says Karunashankar Tiwari, Business Head at TCS Mumbai.

Post-Covid, more than 85% of corporates have either switched to Work From Office (WFO) full-time or adopted a hybrid model, with employees working from office 2–3 days a week.

The idea of bringing childcare to the workplace is not entirely new to India. Long before corporate offices began advertising crèches as an employee benefit, workplace childcare existed largely as a provision for women workers in factories. The Factories Act of 1948 mandated crèche facilities in certain establishments, while the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, strengthened protections for working mothers. The real shift, however, came in 2017, when the amended Maternity Benefit Act made crèche facilities mandatory for establishments with 50 or more employees.

Comfort In Proximity

What makes corporate daycares particularly attractive to parents is the proximity they offer to their little ones. But beyond convenience, they can also play an important role in creating a more inclusive childcare environment for children with special needs.

Mugdha Kalra, a special needs parent & autism activist, states, “Having a parent nearby can make a child feel more secure and allows the parent to respond quickly to medical, sensory or communication needs. But proximity alone is not enough.”

She further adds that for children with disabilities, caregivers must understand that behaviour is communication and know how to respond to distress without punishment, restraint or isolation.

Dr Aditya Tiwari, a homoeopathic psychiatrist & art-based therapist for kids states something similar, “Closeness or accessibility is just about convenience. Interaction with the staff to see their level of compassion for the children and genuine interest in caring for children are key features in selection.”

Tip-toeing The Balance

The responsibility of raising a child cannot rest on one parent alone. It requires both parents to share the care, time and responsibilities of parenthood. Kalra states, “I eventually had to leave regular work because there was no reliable support for a child with additional needs. Many mothers I know have done the same.”

She further explains why this imbalance is problematic. “When an adequate daycare is not found, the mother usually leaves work and assumes almost all caregiving. The father becomes responsible for the family’s income. One parent loses financial independence; the other loses the freedom to take leave, change jobs or share care more fully. This can alter the balance of the entire household.”

A reliable and inclusive in-office daycare can hence prevent families from being pushed into these fixed roles. As Karunashankar rightly states, “Even though in-office daycare facilities can make a significant difference, particularly for working mothers, they are equally important for working fathers, who are equal partners in parenthood. Providing accessible and reliable childcare is not just a women's workplace issue; it is a family and workforce issue.”

The Safety Concerns

Corporate daycare in some sense, can come off as a saviour, but it is not devoid of certain security lapses of its own. The Bengaluru case has raised serious concerns about corporate daycare safety after caregivers at a Capgemini campus facility were accused of abusing toddlers, including locking them in bathrooms and a washing machine to induce fear.

“Companies usually don’t set up these daycares themselves. They partner with specialised childcare providers who manage everything — from hiring caregivers and setting up the facility to maintaining safety and hygiene standards,” states an employee at a Bengaluru daycare facility, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“The company provides the space and infrastructure, while the daycare provider takes care of the day-to-day operations. Hence, the company must run a thorough background check before hiring an agency to look after children. It is usually because of the lack of a stringent check from the company’s end, that incidents of child abuse arise,” she adds.

Play, Learn, Grow

As per Kalra, an inclusive daycare needs trained staff, individual support plans, accessible spaces and clear medical protocols. “Employers must remain accountable even when an outside agency runs the facility. Reliable daycare, flexible work and caregiver-friendly policies belong together. Without them, many mothers of children with disabilities will continue to be pushed out of the workforce,” she adds.

Corporate daycares may offer working parents the comfort of being close to their children, but they cannot replace the larger village that once surrounded a child. As childcare finds its way into offices, the real measure of progress may lie not simply in where children are cared for, but in how responsibility for their care is shared — between parents, workplaces and society.

Tiny Tots Daycare Tips

• For working parents, here are some parameters for selecting a corporate childcare facility

• Who operates the centre and who is accountable

• Staff training, background checks and child-to-caregiver ratios

• CCTV coverage, monitoring and retention of recordings

• Policies on restraint, isolation, force-feeding and punishment

• Medical, fire and emergency procedures

• Whether parents can make unannounced visits How complaints and incidents are documented and escalated