Retention falters when care and education fail. Bright Horizons CEO Stephen Kramer explains why employers must become the modern village, providing infrastructure that supports employees.
Retention has become a core leadership challenge for businesses. In a recent Chief Executive survey, more than half of U.S. CEOs ranked retaining and engaging employees as a top priority, and nearly 40% identified it as one of their biggest challenges, even amid rising cost pressures and geopolitical uncertainty. Yet many workplaces are still operating on assumptions built for a life that no longer exists.
Companies are investing heavily in benefits, flexibility, and engagement tools, but turnover remains stubbornly high. The issue isn’t effort—it’s alignment. What organizations offer doesn’t match what employees need to stay. Most workforce models still reflect linear careers, nearby family support, and predictable paths, even though these conditions no longer reflect how people live and work today.
Where retention breaks down
In my role working with large employers across industries, I see the same pattern repeat itself. Attrition rises during predictable moments: summer months when school is out, school breaks and back-to-school transitions, new caregiving responsibilities for aging parents, and family care disruptions.
When those pressures go unsupported, the ability to sustain consistent performance weakens. For a growing share of the workforce, those pressures are stacking, not sequential. Mid-career employees are increasingly raising children, advancing professionally, and caring for aging parents within the same compressed window of time. In many cases, there is no break from or among these demands.
In fact, recent Bright Horizons Modern Family Index research found that 81% of working parents say the “village” they rely on for help during the workday has shrunk compared to previous generations—a clear signal that informal support systems are no longer available to absorb predictable disruption. Many families are managing through fragile arrangements long before attrition shows up as a formal business risk.
From perks to infrastructure
High‑performing companies approach retention as an operating issue. They look closely at when and why employees struggle, not just how they feel. They move past adding incremental perks and focus on whether their workforce infrastructure is strong enough to withstand recurring disruptions and support employees across multiple life stages.
That question has real business implications for performance and continuity.
Large employers with diverse, distributed workforces have long dealt with the operational impact of workforce volatility tied to seasonal and situational pressures. Seasonal shifts such as summer break time amplify these gaps, as school schedules change and family responsibilities increase. At the same time, longer careers and shifting demographics mean more employees are navigating elder care demands, financial strain, and the need to reskill as roles change.
Large employers with diverse, distributed workforces have long dealt with the operational impact of workforce volatility tied to seasonal and situational pressures.
Research shows that 60% of working parents rely on a patchwork of informal caregivers during the workday, even though 88% say they would prefer consistent care, a dynamic that creates instability at exactly the moment when consistency matters most.
Education and adaptability in an AI economy
AI is accelerating this reality. People are not being replaced by technology, but they will be replaced by those who can adapt faster, learn continuously, and navigate change with support.
According to the 2025 EdAssist by Bright Horizons Education Index, 42% of employees expect their roles to change significantly due to AI within the next year, yet 34% say they feel unprepared for those shifts, which is a gap organizations cannot ignore. Additionally, nearly eight in 10 employees say they feel pressure to learn new skills to stay competitive, reinforcing that continuous education is no longer optional. As roles evolve, employees need clear, viable pathways to build new skills, shift careers, and stay relevant in the market.
Care and education sit at the center of this dynamic, functioning as essential infrastructure for working families. At the same time, workforce education programs, including reskilling, upskilling, and career mobility support, play a similar role for long-term employability.
When employers invest in both care and education, they’re not just supporting employees in the moment but enabling them to adapt over time.
When access to reliable support is uncertain, attendance becomes inconsistent, managers spend more time filling gaps, and teams operate under unnecessary strain. When infrastructure is stable, employees stay focused, productive, and more likely to remain.
Planning for predictable disruption
Some organizations have recognized this pattern and made planning for disruption a best practice. Employers such as AT&T, Target, and Toyota anticipate pressure points, including summer breaks, school closures, family emergencies, and moments of career transition driven by change, and put reliable supports in place ahead of time. The emphasis is on consistency and predictability, not one‑time programs or short‑term fixes.
What distinguishes these companies is not flashy fixes but innovation borne from discipline and lived experience. They invest in systems that reduce everyday strain, plan for what is actually quite predictable, and take a long‑term view of workforce stability that accounts for care needs, learning needs, and the reality of longer, less linear careers.
What actually drives retention
Retention conversations often drift toward sentiment and morale. What ultimately keeps people in their roles is confidence—that work can adapt as life changes and that support will be available during the moments that test their capacity to keep going.
Leadership teams that approach retention this way treat it as a core business imperative and a long‑term commitment. They begin to function as a modern version of the village that once made work possible: a centralized, reliable source of support and continuity in an increasingly unstable world.
Competitive pay, career development, and strong management all remain essential. Without stable infrastructure around daily life and ongoing access to education, those strengths are easier to walk away from. Retention weakens when basic supports are missing and improves when organizations build systems employees can rely on.
This work requires sustained attention and a willingness to address challenges beyond traditional workplace boundaries. For leaders focused on long-term value, the payoff is a more stable workforce, more tenured talent, and overall stronger performance.
Note: This content was created by Bright Horizons.