--- title: Babysitters Now Have Access to Better Benefits description: The online marketplace Care.com is expanding its benefits for workers, in big step forward for the 9 million independent workers who use it. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2016-09-14T17:09:01.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T03:41:28.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Benefits - pubdesk - Workplace word_count: 269 canonical: https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Teacher and students playing outdoors](https://img.money.com/2016/09/gettyimages-5059362291.jpg) In a bid to expand professional benefits for gig economy workers, Care.com -- which links babysitters and other caregivers to families that need their services -- is adding an extra 2% to workers' pay, which can be used to cover anything from bus fare to medical bills. Here's how it works: When a family pays a U.S.-based caregiver through Care.com, the company charges the family an additional 12% fee, the [New York *Times* reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/business/carecom-creates-a-500-limited-benefit-for-gig-economy-workers.html). That entire fee used to go to Care.com, but now [2% goes to a fund](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160914005433/en/Care.com-Introduces-Groundbreaking-Peer-to-Peer-Benefits-Platform-Caregivers) that workers can use for health care, transportation or education expenses. Workers can accrue an unlimited amount of benefit money, but they can only spend up to $500 a year, the company says. Care.com's benefits plan addresses a common problem among the [90 million Americans](https://time.com/4169532/sharing-economy-poll/) working in the gig economy: freelancers, often working for multiple companies or families, rarely get benefits from any of their employers. This isn't the first attempt to formulate a system of payroll benefits for independent workers. Last month, Uber announced it would offer retirement accounts for its drivers through a [partnership with Betterment](http://time.com/4473903/uber-drivers-partnerships/?iid=sr-link1). Uber drivers who open an account will have their fees waved for the first year, after which they’ll be charged at a rate of 0.25%. In 2012, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance lobbied the Taxi and Limousine Commission to require medallion owners to spend 6 cents per fare on health care and disability coverage for drivers, though the New York State Supreme Court struck down the regulation in 2015. The graphic below shows how Care.com's new "Care Benefits Bucks" program works: ![benefit_bucks_infogrpahic_fin-rev](https://img.money.com/2016/09/benefit_bucks_infogrpahic_fin-rev.jpg?quality=85) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Making Money", "item": "https://money.com/making-money/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Babysitters Now Have Access to Better Benefits" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/", "name": "Babysitters Now Have Access to Better Benefits", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-09-14T17:09:01.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/babysitter-worker-benefits/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T03:41:28.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Babysitters Now Have Access to Better Benefits", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/09/gettyimages-5059362291.jpg", "width": 5121, "height": 3414, "caption": "Teacher and students playing outdoors" }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/09/benefit_bucks_infogrpahic_fin-rev.jpg?quality=85", "width": 280, "height": 7339 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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