As healthcare organizations continue to search for ways to strengthen employee well-being and retention, health systems like Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health and Binghamton, N.Y.-based United Health Services are actively investing in one hot topic in workforce management — childcare.
Becker’s connected with Ellen Pancoast, vice president of people operations at Cone Health, and Sheri Lamoureux, vice president of human resources and CHRO of UHS, to discuss supporting employees through on-site child care services and treating family support as a core workforce strategy.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How is your organization addressing childcare challenges as part of its broader strategy to support employee retention and reduce burnout?
Ellen Pancoast: Long before the shortage of childcare was a focus, Cone Health was committed to providing team members with access to high-quality childcare and early childhood education. In fact, we have been providing access for over 30 years. Cone Health is proud to have four on- or near-site childcare centers that are run in partnership with Bright Horizons, a leading provider of early education, childcare and workforce education.
Our centers are one example of how we live our values of caring for each other, our patients and our communities. Our team members are able to walk through our doors to care for our patients knowing their children are being well cared for and receiving the highest-quality early education in a loving environment. This benefit, subsidized by Cone Health, plays a significant role in our strategy to support employee retention and our team members’ overall well-being. The impact on recruitment and retention is evident when we see team members who were once enrolled in our centers return to enroll their own children in our centers.
Our childcare centers are not the only way we support our team members with childcare challenges. School breaks and inclement weather are just two examples of situations that can lead to stress for our team members and result in absenteeism. Through our partnership with Bright Horizons, our team members have access to a back-up child and adult/elder care benefit during these events at subsidized rates.
Sheri Lamoureux: At UHS, we recognize that access to affordable, reliable childcare is a critical factor in employee well-being, retention and engagement — particularly for those in clinical and frontline roles with demanding schedules. In 2024, with the support of the UHS Foundation, we took a significant step by partnering with Bright Horizons to establish an off-site childcare center, offering high-quality early childhood education and care conveniently located for our employees and the community at large. In addition, UHS offers scholarships to our staff to help offset the costs. This initiative is part of our broader commitment to creating a supportive work environment that acknowledges and responds to the challenges faced by working families. By easing the burden of childcare, we aim to reduce stress, enhance work-life balance and allow our staff to focus more fully on delivering exceptional care.
Q: What impact have you seen — qualitatively or quantitatively — from offering childcare support in terms of workforce stability or morale?
EP: Our brand promise of being right here with you applies to our patients, our community and to each other. Our talent acquisition team is intentional in sharing the family-focused benefits offered by Cone Health with candidates. There are countless stories in which candidates have shared that having access to high-quality childcare and early childhood education at on/near site centers where the rates are subsidized by Cone Health has played a key role in their decision to join our organization.
I think we can best describe the impact by sharing a story. We recently invested in renovations at our largest on-site childcare center, making updates to the interior and creating an entirely new playground. The children were excited to see the daily changes occurring ranging from watching the walls being painted to the big tractors working on the playground. Their excitement was contagious and matched, if not beaten, by that of the teachers and parents. I honestly cannot tell you who had more fun at our grand celebration, the children or their parents!
SL: Although the center is still in its first year of operation, early feedback from employees has been overwhelmingly positive. Qualitatively, we’ve seen increased peace of mind among working parents, greater workplace satisfaction and a sense of organizational commitment to the whole person — not just the employee. Employees have shared that access to convenient, trusted childcare has significantly reduced their daily stress and logistical challenges. We have also expanded to provide services over the summer as well. Quantitatively, we’ve seen early indicators of improved retention among employees utilizing the childcare center and a strong interest from both current staff and new recruits. As we continue tracking usage and outcomes, we expect to see, even greater impact on employee morale and stability.
Q: How do you balance investments in family-supportive benefits like childcare with other workforce priorities such as recruitment, compensation and training?
EP: Benefit design, including a focus on family-supportive benefits like childcare, is a critical component of Cone Health’s strategic priorities, including our efforts to elevate the human experience for our patients, community and team members. By offering childcare, we are leaning in to help our team members by removing one huge concern many working parents face: care for their children. This decision also helps support Cone Health’s workforce development initiatives.
We approach investing in our benefits, including those being discussed today, as being equal to other workforce priorities such as recruitment, compensation and training. In today’s market, organizations have to focus on the total health and well-being of team members. We have five generations in the workforce today and it is critical to recognize that wants and needs vary across team members based on where they are in their journey. To effectively compete with other organizations, we need to create diverse ways to meet or exceed these wants and needs. That cannot be done without equally prioritizing benefits.
SL: We view childcare and other family-supportive benefits not as separate from but complementary to our core workforce strategies. Our investments in childcare are aligned with our broader goals of attracting and retaining top talent, supporting work-life integration and fostering a culture of trust and respect. Like competitive compensation and professional development, childcare access is a tangible demonstration of our values in action. We use data and employee feedback to ensure we’re making strategic, balanced decisions that address the evolving needs of our workforce while advancing organizational priorities.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you see the role of holistic well-being programs evolving in healthcare workforce strategy?
EP: Healthcare organizations like Cone Health recognize the importance of holistic well-being programs as more than just optional perks. Family-friendly benefits like childcare are essential, especially as burnout and staffing challenges continue to impact nurses and early-career professionals. By providing reliable and affordable family-friendly benefits, we can help employees balance work and life, leading to better retention, engagement and mental health. These benefits are part of a bigger picture that supports mental, financial and social well-being. Looking ahead, it’s great to think that healthcare employers will likely invest more in things like on-site childcare and flexible benefits that meet their team members’ unique needs because the one-size-fits-all approach is a thing of the past.
SL: We believe that holistic well-being — including physical, emotional, financial and family wellness — will become an even more essential pillar of healthcare workforce strategy. As healthcare roles become more complex and burnout remains a challenge, forward-thinking organizations must go beyond traditional benefits and offer integrated support systems that help employees thrive both personally and professionally. At UHS, we are embedding well-being into our culture, from mental health resources and flexible scheduling to childcare and development programs. The future of workforce strategy in healthcare will be centered on empathy, flexibility and designing systems that support the whole person.
