Childcare is an increasingly sought-after employee benefit, but offering a stipend that makes a serious dent in the average worker’s daycare bills is no easy feat.

At least two companies have figured out how to do it, though. Neither are enterprise organizations with enormous benefits budgets. And both happen to be run by women with children of their own.

A wake-up call. “The cost of childcare, I think, I was very unprepared for when I became a mom,” Taylor Capuano, co-founder of CAKES body, an adhesive bra brand, told HR Brew last year. She and her sister, Casey Sarai, started CAKES as a side hustle during the pandemic. Capuano was a new mom at the time, and estimated she was probably taking home $200 after taxes when factoring in the $3,000 a month she paid for childcare.

In 2025, CAKES rolled out an unusually generous childcare benefit, pledging to reimburse up to $3,000 a month for eligible employees’ care expenses. That goes far beyond the most common benefits US employers provide their workers for caregiving expenses, which is a pre-tax flexible savings account capped at $7,500 annually. The annual cost of childcare in the US was over $13,000 as of 2024, according to non-profit organization Child Care Aware of America.

For more on how two companies launched childcare benefits, keep reading here.—CV

As many companies have rolled back DEI initiatives over the last two years, it seems some have also decreased support of the LGBTQ+ community, according to a new Harris Poll survey conducted last month.

Shying away. While 35% of the 650 surveyed LGBTQ+ workers in the US said their company has policies and a culture that are visibly supportive of their community, 62% said they’ve noticed “at least one meaningful change” in communicated support.

Additionally, 40% said that there has been less discussion around LGBTQ+ issues or “none at all.” Another 13% of both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ workers said that public support for the community has been “quietly dropped,” or that their company has “gone silent.”

For more on how support for LGBTQ+ workers is waning, keep reading here.—KP

Japan will introduce education in workplaces and schools to better inform people about the LGBTQIA+ community, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Approximately 10.6% of Japan’s population identifies as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, a 1% increase since 2023, according to a recent Dentsu survey reported by Time Out Tokyo. While the country has some labor statutes protecting LGBTQIA+ workers, there are no national laws protecting the community from discrimination. Marriage equality, for example, does not exist in Japan (the country is expected to rule on it soon), even though nearly seven in 10 respondents to Dentsu’s survey support equality.

The workplace education is part of legislation passed in 2023 that required the development of such programming. It is meant to address any “confusion, anxiety and difficulties in daily life” that the LGBTQ+ community may experience “due to insufficient public understanding,” the program noted, according to ABC.

The program will aim to help increase social understanding and reduce bias and discrimination through leaflets, training videos, and consultation systems, according to Japanese newspaper the Mainichi. It will also call on employers to implement non-discrimination measures for LGBTQIA+ workers.

For more on LGBTQIA+ education in Japan’s workplaces, keep reading here.—KP