Care.com Introduces Groundbreaking Peer-to-Peer Benefits Platform for Caregivers
September 14 2016 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Pooled multi-household employer
contributions provide professional, portable benefits for care
workforce
Care.com (NYSE:CRCM), the world’s largest online marketplace for
finding and managing family care, today announced the expansion of
Care.com Benefits with a first-of-its-kind peer-to-peer benefits
platform between families and caregivers that represents an
important step forward in professionalizing caregiving and
developing a social safety net for millions of care workers in the
on-demand gig economy.
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Care.com's Care Benefit Bucks program is
the first-of-its-kind peer-to-peer benefits platform between
families and caregivers that represents an important step forward
in professionalizing caregiving and developing a social safety net
for millions of care workers in the on-demand gig economy. Here's
how it works.
Care.com Benefits is part of Care.com’s ongoing strategy to
support and grow the country’s valuable care workforce and offer
professional benefits to this important sector of our economy. In
January 2016, the Care.com Benefits platform was launched, offering
caregivers access to affordable medical and dental insurance
plans.
Today’s expansion of the Benefits platform enables families to
contribute to their caregiver’s benefits just as traditional
corporate employers do for their employees. When a family pays a
caregiver through Care.com, a percentage of the transaction is
added to the payment to fund the Care.com Benefits program, which
helps the caregiver pay for essential family expenses, such as
healthcare and transportation. These contributions are pooled with
others from household employers paying that caregiver through
Care.com. From the program, caregivers receive Care Benefit Bucks,
which provide access to benefits that are portable – staying with
the care worker even if she changes jobs working for numerous
families on Care.com.
The Company first introduced professional benefits in 2012
through its payroll platform, Care.com HomePay, which is the leader
in household payroll and tax facilitation. Care.com HomePay
supports household employers in fulfilling their legal obligation
to pay household payroll taxes and provides caregivers access to
vital benefits including Social Security, Medicare, and
unemployment insurance, among others. Additionally, Care.com
HomePay enables household employers to purchase worker’s
compensation policies for their household employees in all 50
states.
“A strong care workforce is critical to our economy and the
well-being of families, yet we lack a scalable solution to provide
benefits for these workers who support us all. Today is an
important milestone for us to better serve the millions of
caregivers in our marketplace, and to enable the families they
serve to provide them support,” said Sheila Lirio Marcelo, Founder,
Chairwoman and CEO of Care.com. “Caregivers constitute one of the
largest segments of the gig economy and the fastest growing large
job category in our country. Caregivers frequently work for
multiple families and almost always work without access to
professional benefits. The Care.com Benefits platform not only
provides that access but now makes these benefits more affordable
through the help of employer contributions to the program. Pooled,
portable, peer-to-peer benefits represent a new model for household
employment and an innovative step forward in professionalizing
caregivers.”
Components of the Care.com Benefits Platform:
- Pooled, Portable Contributions:
- Employer Benefit Contributions:
Each time a family pays a caregiver through Care.com, a small
contribution is automatically added to the payment. These
contributions are pooled together across multiple employers to
support the Care Benefit Bucks program. When a caregiver has earned
$15 in Care Benefit Bucks, they can be redeemed for a Care.com
Benefits reloadable prepaid card, which can be used towards an
array of expenses, including doctor co-pays, health insurance
premiums, drug store purchases, transportation (e.g., gas, bus
passes), and education. Caregivers can earn up to $500 in Care
Benefit Bucks annually which, for example, could cover three months
of average caregiver insurance premiums or six months of gas.
Care.com Benefit Bucks Infographic
- Corporate Contributions – Coming
Soon: Having launched the Care Benefit Bucks program by
allowing families to pool benefits for their caregivers, Care.com
has taken the first step in magnifying the power of small consumer
contributions to help workers in our gig economy. Care.com is also
actively working with various corporations to further support
caregivers by potentially participating in the Care Benefit Bucks
program.
- Affordable Health and Dental
Plans: In January 2016, Care.com teamed up with Stride Health
to provide an array of medical and dental plans to all caregivers
in the Care.com marketplace in the U.S. The service provides a fast
and simple mobile enrollment platform with personalized
recommendations, financial guidance and year-round navigation
support for medical and dental insurance plans, and enables
eligible caregivers to take advantage of tax credits to lower
premium expenses. The majority of caregivers who enrolled for 2016
coverage saved on average $3,000 a year on health insurance plans
by qualifying for tax credits.
- Access to Retirement Benefits,
Unemployment Insurance and Worker’s Compensation: Caregivers
who are paid legally may become eligible for a variety of benefits
including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance,
among others. Care.com HomePay facilitates all aspects of payroll
and tax obligations for household employers, which is required to
enable their employees to have access to these critical benefits.
In addition, through Care.com HomePay, families can purchase
Worker’s Compensation for their household employees.
- Real-Time Payments: Peer-to-peer
instant payments made by families to caregivers on the Care.com
platform are powered by Stripe. Those payments arrive in caregiver
bank accounts in less than 30 minutes and families no longer need
to have cash on hand.
For more information, visit: Care.com/professional-benefits
About Care.com
Since launching in 2007, Care.com (NYSE: CRCM) has been
committed to solving the complex care challenges that impact
families, caregivers, employers, and care service companies. Today,
Care.com is the world’s largest online destination for finding and
managing family care, with 11.6 million families and 9.1 million
caregivers* across 18 countries, including the U.S., UK, Canada and
parts of Western Europe, and approximately 1.1 million employees of
corporate clients having access to our services. Spanning child
care to senior care, pet care, housekeeping and more, Care.com
provides a sweeping array of services for families and caregivers
to find, manage and pay for care or find employment. These include:
a comprehensive suite of safety tools and resources members may use
to help make more informed hiring decisions - such as third-party
background check services, monitored messaging, and tips on hiring
best practices; easy ways for caregivers to be paid online or via
mobile app; and Care.com Benefits, including the household payroll
and tax services provided by Care.com HomePay and the Benefit Bucks
program, a peer-to-peer pooled, portable benefits platform funded
by household employer contributions which provides caregivers
access to professional benefits. For enterprise clients, Care.com
builds customized benefits packages covering child care, back up
care and senior care consulting services through its Care@Work
business, and serves care businesses with marketing and recruiting
support. To connect families further, Care.com acquired community
platforms Big Tent and Kinsights in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Care.com has offices in
Berlin, Austin, New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.
*As of June 2016
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160914005433/en/
For Care.com:Nancy Bushkin,
781-642-5919Vice President, Global Public Relations & Corporate
Communicationsnbushkin@care.com
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