Child Care Provider Experiences and Working Conditions During Nontraditional Hours

• In Event: Nontraditional hour child care provision, practices, and policies: Research findings on provider perspectives across states

Abstract

A substantial share of families in the United States rely on child care during nontraditional hours (NTH)—including early mornings, evenings, overnights, and weekends—yet the supply of such care remains limited. This gap is particularly consequential for low-income families and those with nonstandard work schedules. While policymakers have increasingly focused on expanding NTH child care, little is known about the working conditions of providers who deliver this care. This study examines providers’ experiences with NTH care and identifies workforce constraints that limit the expansion of supply.

Responses were analyzed from a 2024 survey of 434 child care providers across Illinois, including licensed home-based providers, center-based directors, and family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) caregivers. The survey sample was drawn from state licensing and child care assistance lists, then stratified to provide variation in geography (urban, suburban, rural), type of care facility, and operating schedule. The sample includes both providers who currently offer NTH care and those who do not offer or have discontinued offering care during these hours. Descriptive statistics and subgroup comparisons were used to examine providers’ motivations, job satisfaction, working conditions, and barriers to offering NTH care. 

Our findings show that providers overwhelmingly offer NTH child care in response to parent demand and a desire to support working families. Most providers report satisfaction with this work (73%) and intend to continue offering it (87%). However, these positive motivations coexist with substantial challenges. Providers report long and irregular work hours, sleep disruption, and difficulty balancing work with personal and family responsibilities. Center-based providers identify staffing as their primary constraint, while home-based providers emphasize burnout and lack of personal time. Across provider types, many report increased operating costs without corresponding increases in compensation, although only a few charge higher rates for NTH care. 

Providers who do not offer NTH care cite similar constraints as reasons for not offering care during these hours. They cite long work hours, staffing challenges, low or inconsistent parent demand for NTH care, and concerns about additional stress and compensation. Many express conditional interest in offering NTH care if compensation, staff availability, demand, and regulatory flexibility were improved. 

These findings highlight a central policy tension: expanding the supply of NTH child care depends on improving job quality for providers. Policy strategies such as enhanced subsidy reimbursement, staffing support, and more flexible licensing requirements may be necessary to sustainably increase availability and address inequities in access for families with nonstandard work schedules.

Author

• Alejandra Flores, Illinois Action for Children
  Presenting Author