St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

The Spark

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital employs over 7,000 people in the Memphis area, including a large cohort of researchers who arrive in their early 30s, often from out of state, often starting families, and often with no local support network. In addition, St. Jude employs several hundred clinicians, many in nursing, who are also starting families while navigating varied shifts and schedules.

The hospital’s first experience with child care came through a partnership with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus in Memphis, which had an existing center with openings. In 2015, the center closed due to renovations to the university's campus. As a result, St. Jude redirected its resources to create a $2,000 annual contribution. This benefit was extended to eligible employees through flexible spending accounts (FSAs) so that employees could put the funds toward tuition at another facility or use them for other eligible child care expenses.

This reached far more families than the center. But when the pandemic hit and child care collapsed nationally, St. Jude leadership approached the question again: could they build their own?

The Solution

St. Jude now runs two child care benefits in parallel, and the decision to keep both is the most important part of this story. The first is the $2,000 annual FSA contribution, available to every eligible employee with a child under age 6. It launched around 2015 and has remained popular because it solves a specific cash flow problem: dependent care FSAs normally require employees to pay out of pocket until the account balance builds up. The St. Jude $2,000 contribution on January 1 means parents can draw from the account immediately.

The second is the St. Jude Child Care Center, located about one mile from campus in downtown Memphis. Opened in October 2024 and operated by a leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, the center serves approximately 190 children from six weeks through age 5, with a summer program for older siblings up to age 10 that expands capacity to 212. Hours run from 6:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on a staggered staffing model to accommodate 7 a.m. nursing

shifts. The center is open Monday through Friday, including spring break, fall break, and Christmas week. Meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are included in tuition.

Employees who are benefit-eligible (60% FTE) can enroll their legally dependent children, from researchers to clinical staff to operations team members. Tuition is highly competitive compared to other high-quality centers in the area. Child care experts projected five years to reach full enrollment. St. Jude hit capacity in under two, driven heavily by the hospital’s strategic initiative to recruit more than 2,000 employees in a six-year time frame.

The Results

The first two years have focused on getting staffed, getting enrolled, and getting the operations right. But the enrollment trajectory tells its own story: a facility that was expected to take five years to fill reached capacity in under two. The FSA contribution remains the more widely used benefit simply because a 190-slot center cannot serve 7,000 employees, and some families prefer care closer to home. Running both ensures no one falls through the gap.

The center is an attractive recruiting piece for research, clinical and operations staff members, many of whom have varying shifts and schedules that are necessary to an organization open 24/7.

A high-quality child care center one mile from campus, paired with an FSA contribution that helps even if they choose a different provider, makes St. Jude’s offer substantially more attractive. Dana Bottenfield, SVP, human resources, notes that even employees who never use the center take pride in working for an organization that provides it. It signals something about St. Jude’s values that extends well beyond the families it directly serves.