Meijer Just Redefined Childcare Benefits—And SitterSync Was Built for It

In a bold move that reflects the changing landscape of work and family life, Meijer recently announced a new dependent care benefit that allows team members to be reimbursed for care provided by someone in their personal network.

From the official Meijer press release:

“Team members can submit reimbursement requests for care provided by someone in their personal network – a friend, neighbor or babysitter – to care for a child, dependent, or elderly family member.”

This is more than just a perk—it’s a paradigm shift. It reflects what many families already know to be true: trusted care most often comes from people they already know and rely on.

And that’s exactly what SitterSync was built for.

Childcare Doesn’t Always Come from a Center—And That’s Okay

Most corporate benefits are built around structured, center-based care or matching services that pair families with caregivers they’ve never met. But that model doesn’t fit everyone.

For many working parents, care comes from a high school student from church, a neighbor who picks up after school, a college student trusted by the whole block, or maybe even a grandparent with spare time that wants to make a couple extra bucks.

This is community-based care.
This is real-world childcare.
And now, thanks to Meijer, it’s finally being recognized and reimbursed.

SitterSync: The Platform for Personal Network Care

At SitterSync, we saw this shift coming—and we built a platform that specifically supports it.

Families use SitterSync to manage care from their own network:
People they know.
People they trust.
People they already rely on.

We provide the tools to:

• Track hours and payments for informal care

• Generate Dependent Care FSA-ready receipts

• Categorize jobs and export year-end reports for the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC)

• Organize care history by date or provider

• Prepare documentation for reimbursement from employer programs like Meijer’s

• Build custom reimbursement and funding mechanisms for companies

In short: we make informal care trackable, reimbursable, and tax-smart.

Why Employers Should Pay Attention

Meijer’s leadership sends a powerful message to other employers:
Supporting families means supporting the care they already use.

By reimbursing care through personal networks—and pairing it with tools like SitterSync—HR teams can:

✅ Improve benefit utilization
✅ Boost employee satisfaction and retention
✅ Support caregivers of children, elders, and dependents across diverse household types

This isn’t just the future of childcare benefits. It’s the present—and it’s scalable. Click the button below to book a demo with our team on how we can support your current benefits program, or custom build a reimbursement program for you focused on personal networks of care providers.