Parents are desperately arranging a babysitter due to early Christmas holidays
Now that schools are closing a week earlier and the Christmas holidays are therefore starting sooner than expected, parents are arranging a babysitter at home en masse. After the new restrictions were leaked, babysitting platform Charly Cares saw the demand for a babysitter explode, tripling requests compared to a week ago. After the official announcement during the press conference, the platform's phone was ringing off the hook. In addition to parents looking for a last minute solution, companies also want to support their employees with a business babysitter.
Founder Charly van der Straten: “Working parents are in the midst of year-end closing, which to some is the busiest time of the year. They cannot combine their work with taking care of the children at home. In addition, they do not want to or cannot fall back on grandfathers and grandmothers due to current circumstances. In some cases, a babysitter at home is the only solution.”
The employer pays for the babysitter
An increasing number of employers support working parents by offering childcare at home. Since the first lockdown, during which the schools closed, over 60 companies have signed up for Charly Cares Business, the platform's business service. Now that the Christmas holidays are coming a week earlier, more organisations are joining at a rapid pace. At the moment, about 30% of all transactions on the babysitting platform are being paid for by the employer.