Working moms most affected by return-to-office policies, says expert

New data shows that an increasing number of working mothers are leaving the workforce, with both return-to-office work mandates and the increasing cost of childcare among the reasons.

A study published by the Care Board at the University of Kansas found that between January and June of this year, the number of women in the U.S. workforce between ages 25 and 44 with a child younger that 5 years old fell by nearly 3%.

"One factor here is return-to-office policies," Julie Vogtman, senior director of job quality at the National Women's Law Center, told ABC News. "We're seeing employers demand that people in white-collar jobs who started working remotely during the pandemic return to the office three or four or even five days a week, and this can certainly make it harder to manage childcare."

Vogtman says because it's women who historically shoulder childcare responsibilities, they're the demographic most affected by return-to-office policies, more than their male counterparts.

"When that flexibility disappears, they can find that they need to choose between work and family instead of having the option to do both," Vogtman told ABC News.

The shift comes as major employers, including Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Starbucks and Zoom, are requiring employees to transition back to working in-office. Data from the Flex Index shows that 13% of Fortune 500 companies mandated full-time in-office requirements in the end of 2024. That number nearly doubled by the second quarter of this year, with 24% of Fortune 500 companies requiring their employess to work on-site full time.

When asked if such mandates were unreasonable for employers to make, rather than having employees attending to their children during work hours, Vogtman said for working moms, it goes beyond that.

"This isn't just about watching children during work hours," she said. "It's about having the flexibility to handle unexpected situations without facing a long commute, or being able to quickly respond to family emergencies."

Working on-site is even more difficult for moms whose jobs can't be performed remotely, such as retail or food service jobs, who have to pay for childcare, Vogtman said. That often means they have to choose between work, or taking care of their kids.

"Childcare is incredibly expensive," Vogtman said. "When you can't afford childcare, you're finding yourself with the need to choose between work and family rather than having the opportunity to do both."

An analysis published in November by the U.S. Department of Labor found that U.S. families in 2022 spent between 8.9% and 16% of their income on full-day childcare for a single child, an average of between $6,552 and $15,600 annually. Even childcare for part of a day cost between 8.1% to 9.4% of annual median household income, or between $5,943 and $9,211 a year.

While some companies recognize that supporting employees' needs can improve productivity and reduce turnover, "that's not what we see from the majority of employers," Vogtman said.

"Our federal policies aren't just failing workers – they're failing employers, because policies like universal childcare, like flexibility for different work locations and hours, like paid family and medical leave level the playing field so it's not just large corporate employers who can make sure their employees have the support they need, but small, local businesses, too," according to Vogtman.