Local 3 member discusses TOOTRiS child care benefit

Across the United States, working parents — includ­ing SMART members — are facing a child care crisis. Whether from the cost or the lack of avail­ability, trying to find child care can put working Americans’ lives on hold, impacting their ability to pursue their career, grow their family and more.

That’s why SMART partnered with TOOTRiS to offer members at participating U.S. sheet metal locals access to wraparound child care benefits. And for Local 3 (Omaha, Neb.) member Tanner Tieken, that benefit has already made a difference.

“It [TOOTRiS] was probably one of the best customer experi­ences I’ve had, working with any company,” he said.

With the TOOTRiS child care benefit, members can access more than 200,000 licensed child care providers nationwide via TOOTRiS’s state-of-the-art plat­form, including programs offering non-traditional hours, drop-in care and 24/7 availability. TOOTRiS technology — accessible to members for free via the TOOTRiS app or online — allows parents to search, compare and enroll in care based on real-time availability tailored to their needs, making it easier to find affordable options that work for them.

Perhaps most importantly, as Tieken pointed out, the TOOTRiS concierge service offers prompt, personalized assistance, whether trying to find summer camp a year in advance or dealing with a child care need at an unex­pected time. That means that members who prefer not to use technology have a dedicated service that has their backs: real people helping them find the care they need.

“It was timely,” Tieken said. “It wasn’t like I waited, asked a question and waited three hours. It was at most maybe 30 minutes.”

Child care crisis hits home across the U.S.

In a 2024 report, the advocacy group Kids Count in Nebraska revealed that “a full year of tuition and fees… at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln was cheaper than sending an infant to center-based care in 2021.”

Meanwhile, Nebraska Extension and We Care for Kids reported that 31% of parents with children five and under said that they left the workforce because they couldn’t find affordable child care; 34% of parents with children five and under said they refused a job opportunity, promotion or change because it would increase child care expenses; and that inadequate access to child care and early learning costs Nebraska families, businesses and state tax revenues nearly $745 million annually in direct losses.

Before making use of his child care benefit, Tieken said he and his family had experiences that backed up those reports.

“You almost feel like you want to wait until preschool before you try to go to another [kid,] number two. I’m just working to pay for daycare at that point,” he explained, adding: “I think that that’s kind of the contributor to the rise of a single-income household with a stay-at-home mom or dad. Because if you run the numbers sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense to be away from your kid that long, and you’re not really financially benefiting from [both parents working].”

TOOTRiS benefit makes a difference

Tieken was the first member at Local 3 to sign up for the TOOTRiS benefit. Not only is it making a difference for him and his family; he said it shows SMART’s commit­ment to helping members in any way possible.

“[SMART] sees where the struggle is,” Tieken noted. “Obviously, with today’s market and inflation and all that, everything’s going up in price. So obviously [SMART] can’t do too much about that; can’t pay everyone $100 an hour, it’s not feasible, not possible — the world would shut down, businesses would close — but [SMART is saying] we can help you out with something like child care.”