HUNTSVILLE — Y-tec Keylex Toyotetsu Alabama, a joint venture between Mazda and Toyota suppliers, has announced a partnership with TOOTRiS to provide cutting-edge child care assistance for its workforce.
In 2019, YKTA built a $220 million facility on the site of Mazda Toyota Manufacturing here in Huntsville. Its goal is to grow their workforce to 650 employees, which means an increase in the need for child care.
By partnering with TOOTRiS, manufacturers such as YKTA can offer comprehensive child care assistance, critical to boosting recruitment, retention, and productivity.
TOOTRiS will provide access to the largest network of licensed child care providers, enabling YKTA employees to search, vet, compare, and enroll in real time. The platform also enables parents to find slots for temporary care, drop-ins, and non-traditional work schedules.
“We’re trying different ways to recruit people while supporting our working parents,” said Lorri Collins, human resources manager at YKTA. “As a leading supplier for Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, we saw directly how TOOTRiS benefited their employees.
“Establishing our own partnership with TOOTRiS helps our team members find affordable, quality child care. It aligns with our commitment to create a positive culture that benefits our team as well as our community.”
According to Alabama Department of Labor statistics, child care is the number two reason people give for not having a job, right behind transportation.
Working parents are facing complicated child care challenges across the country with parents trying to balance work/family life with limited access to child care.
Manufacturers are desperately seeking workers but, as U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said, child care is holding businesses back. To get more workers — especially women — into the workforce, employers are starting to offer child care assistance.
According to a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Report, 40% of employers have started offering child care assistance.
“Finding child care can be an emotional struggle for employees and their families,” said Alessandra Lezama, TOOTRiS CEO and a select member of the ReadyNation CEO Task Force on Early Childhood. “TOOTRiS is excited to partner with forward-thinking companies like YKTA who are leading the way in helping solve child care challenges for their team members. This is how you support working families and help the Huntsville community and economy thrive.”
Because Huntsville is a fast-growing city with several Fortune 500 companies in the metropolitan area, family-friendly benefits will become more important as the region expands and organizations compete to attract workers.
In fact, Moody’s has projected strong growth for the Huntsville metro area, which is expected to outpace the growth of the U.S. economy over the next five years.
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