What traditional backup care assumes
The center-based backup care model was built around a specific employee: salaried, one fixed work location, weekday daytime hours, living within reasonable distance of a licensed center, able to plan a day or more ahead. Change any one of those variables and the benefit stops working.
The employees who lose the most when care falls through are shift workers, field crews, plant workers, and floor staff. Helpr is designed to help all employees do their job while knowing their family and loved ones are supported.
Backup Care Assumptions Table The assumption | Where it breaks for frontline workers |
A vetted care provider is nearby | In 2025, more than 70 percent of young children in the most remote areas faced a licensed child care desert* |
Care is needed for a full day | A 5 a.m. shift start may require two hours of coverage, not eight; that's easier at home, where a family member or neighbor can stop by to fill the care gap |
Care happens 8–6, Monday–Friday | Care is needed outside traditional hours: early mornings, nights, weekends, and overtime |
Care needs can be anticipated in advance | Rotating and on-call schedules leave little time to arrange care. |
The employee doesn't already have a preferred caregiver | Most families already rely on two or more familiar caregivers they can rely on. Helpr lets them book the ones they trust instead of an unfamiliar face at a center. |
The Helpr difference
Helpr turns these familiar care arrangement into a families own on demand care system, subsidized by the beneficiary - the employer. Helpr accommodates bookings with as little as 30 minutes' notice. On average, 59% of same-day bookings were requested less than three hours in advance.†
Why the care gap is expensive, not just inequitable
The employees least served by traditional backup care are often the ones whose absence costs the most. An unfilled production line, route, or patient-floor shift means overtime, agency premiums, lost productivity, and added strain and stress on coworkers.
Helpr closes that gap for less. A two-hour, in-home booking can protect an eight-hour shift, and employees can use benefit dollars to pay a trusted caregiver they already know. Less infrastructure. More of the benefit dollar goes directly to care, and happier, more engaged team members.
What the research says
Backup care reaches salaried staff most—but the greatest need is on the frontline. A KPMG study found an average of 1.34 million U.S. workers affected by childcare-related gaps, concentrated among hourly and shift-based employees.†
A four-question diagnostic
Run these against your own data before your next renewal:
- Split utilization by job classification. Does it reflect your workforce, or skew toward salaried employees?
- Split it by location. How much usage sits outside a 30-minute radius of your largest sites?
- Look at booking length. Can employees book two hours, or is the minimum a full day?
- Ask what happens when the network has nothing. Can employees use benefit dollars to pay a provider they already trust, or does the request simply fail?
*Source: Center for American Progress (2026)
†Source: KPMG · Center for American Progress (2026)
Give every employee a benefit they can actually use
See how Helpr extends backup care to shift workers, field crews, and frontline teams — not just salaried staff.
