As students return back to school, L.A. small business owners are shifting from one set of challenges to another in the ongoing struggle to find affordable, high-quality child care for our families and our employees.

While the daily scramble to make sure our children are cared for in the summer months eases a bit, the need for coordinating drop-offs, pick-ups, and activities across multiple schools and centers kicks in. The results strain not only family budgets and the operations of local small businesses, but the overall productivity of our economy.

I own Nela Athletics in Eagle Rock, an independent gym where we help our members reach their goals and change their lives. This work is rewarding, relentless and like most small business owners, requires a lot of my time and attention. I am constantly working to balance the time, money, and energy required to keep not just a business running, but my family and the families of our employees running too.

My two older children are in our local public school, but my youngest missed the cutoff for California’s transitional kindergarten program by one day. This has forced our family to juggle another full year of paying for private child care, multiple drop-offs and conflicting family schedules.

Like many others, we’ve had to get creative with our routine – my wife leaves the house at six in the morning to get to work so that she can leave early to pick the kids up from school.

This arrangement, however, means that I start work later, straining my business where I’m needed to manage the team and logistics to keep everything running smoothly. 

‘Being pulled in multiple directions’

Many people have the experience of being pulled in multiple directions when they are trying to raise a family and work at the same time. For small business owners, these challenges are compounded by the fact that we also are managing employees who are navigating similar challenges.

Several members of my 10 person team have moved out of L.A. in the past year, partially due to the climbing cost of child care. Coupled with the high cost of living in L.A., unaffordable child care makes it impossible to get by even for people with stable jobs.

The cost of child care keeps people who want to work out of the workforce, fuels turnover and limits the advancement of valuable employees.

This issue isn’t new, and it’s not a problem limited to those of us living in this extremely high-cost area. More than 66% of small business owners nationwide recently surveyed by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices said they think it has been very difficult for working parents to afford high-quality child care programs. Thirty-five percent of these business owners, like me, have also reported losing employees or having employees who have had to cut back on their hours because of our nation’s deepening child care crisis. More than half, 57%, say that there are not enough high quality, affordable child care programs where they live.

Child care as a benefit

Despite this dire situation, there are solutions available to prioritize the needs of small business owners and working families. Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said that being able to offer a child care benefit to their employees would have a positive impact on recruitment and retention. I know this would help my business.

Further, 70% of small business owners would support legislation to increase the tax credit to businesses who want to locate or provide child care for their workers from $150,000 to $500,000.

The bottom line is that failing to support small businesses when it comes to child care impacts the economic security of working families, contributes to high turnover and makes it harder for the small business sector to grow and become more productive. 

Our elected officials must prioritize the needs of people who are running small businesses while trying to raise families. And know that we’re doing everything we can to help our employees do the same in order to live the best lives they can.

Paul Austad is the principal owner of Nela Athletics Crossfit Eagle Rock in Los Angeles.