Care.com offers a network of providers and options to assist with needs such as after-school care, caring for a child who is home sick, caring for children while you are working from home, caring for aging parents, and more.
Interested in learning more about the Care.com benefit? Check out a recording from a recent webinar.
Eligibility and Benefit Details
Eligibility for utilizing Care.com and backup care is limited to:
- Full-time regular faculty, librarians, and research associates
- Full-time postdoctoral associates
- Full-time postdoctoral scholars
- Full-time regular staff
Eligible employees who sign up with Care.com receive unlimited access to Care.com's network of local caregivers, a total of 10 available backup care days for child and adult care per program year (September 1 to August 31) to be used for work-related purposes, and an opportunity for tuition discounts on tutoring and local and national child care centers.
How to Enroll
- Visit pitt.care.com or download the care.com mobile app to create an account. You can also call 855-781-1303.
- Enter the required personal details including:
- Employee number (located on your payslip through Pitt Worx or in personal details)
- First and last name
- Date of birth
- Home street address and zip code
- After entering your personal details, select the Continue button.
- Identify the type of care you need. If you are calling to register, select the number that corresponds to your care needs.
- Follow the prompts to complete your search for care.
For questions about enrolling, contact Care.com by calling 855-781-1303 or by emailing careteam@care.com.
How to Use Care.com
Your membership includes unlimited access to the Care.com network to post jobs, search, and reach out to local caregivers, 24/7, to find care for children, adults, housekeeping, tutors, and more for work-related purposes. Review this PDF for details about the Backup Care benefits through Care.com.
Available caregivers include: nannies and babysitters, senior caregivers, housekeepers, special needs caregivers, errand runners, and tutors.
- Post a Job: Create a job post with a description of the care for which you are hiring.
- Search, Filter, and Review: Search and filter through caregivers in your zip code radius that meet your requirements. Receive applications from local caregivers, request background checks, and reply to messages and applications.
- Safety Center: Access the Care.com Safety Center for tips and tools to hire safely.
Using Backup Care
When your regular care is not available, vetted and subsidized adult care and child care for work-related purposes is available as Backup Care through Care.com. Reimbursement is also available for child and adult care through your personal network when Care.com in-network options are not available. Review this PDF for details about the Backup Care benefits through Care.com.
Backup Care for Children
Eligible employees have a total of 10 backup care days for child and adult care per program year (September 1 to August 31) to use for work-related purposes. Note: A "day" is a minimum of four hours of care and a maximum of 10 hours of care. In-home, in-center, and personal network care options are available. Learn more about child backup care and how it works.
Backup Care for Adults
Eligible employees have a total of 10 backup care days for child and adult care per program year (September 1 to August 31) to use for work-related purposes. Note: A "day" is a minimum of four hours of care and a maximum of 10 hours of care. In-home and personal network care options are available.
Tuition Discount
You can save on full-time and part-time tuition at local and national child care centers when you use the Tuition Discount Center Network on Care.com.
You can also use your Personal Network for Backup Care for tutoring. Simply book the tutor and submit a receipt to Care.com to get reimbursed for a portion of the cost. Each tutoring engagement will count as one Backup Care day.
Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Care.com is an employee benefit that helps manage your family care needs while balance work.
Visit pitt.care.com or download the Care.com mobile app to enroll. You will need your employee number and other personal details to register.
To ensure your care needs are met, Care.com will request the following information during enrollment: name, age, gender, and details on any special needs.
Your Care.com Membership gives you unlimited access to the world’s largest platform for finding and managing care for children, seniors, and the home. Enroll and sign in today to explore detailed caregiver profiles in your area, post a job for caregivers to apply, and access the Care.com Safety Center.
Yes, any contributions made by an employee can be submitted against their dependent care flexible spending account, if elected. Your FSA card can be used on the Care.com website when paying for Backup Care.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a $5,000 maximum for non-taxable dependent care benefits. Money used towards Care.com Backup Care and/or your Dependent Care FSA aggregates toward the $5,000 cumulative total. Anything over this $5,000 maximum will be taxed accordingly upon filing. For further clarification on how this applies to your unique circumstances, please consult a tax accountant.
The value of the Care.com backup dependent child and adult care usage, by federal law, is considered imputed income and therefore taxable (it is federally/state taxable only if the total Care.com usage plus Dependent Care FSA deductions are greater than $5,000). As an example, if the total cost of the backup care for one day costs a total of $160 (or, $20 per hour), your cost share is $4 per hour and it is not taxable. The University’s payment is $16 per hour. This portion is taxable and will appear on your pay statement on or about the month of November/December of each calendar year. Also keep in mind that, by federal law, your contribution for the care costs may be submitted against a dependent care account for adults and children under the age of 14. The age limitation is age 13 starting July 1, 2022.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a $5,000 maximum for non-taxable dependent care benefits. Money used towards Care.com Backup Care and/or your Dependent Care FSA aggregates toward the $5,000 cumulative total. Anything over this $5,000 maximum will be taxed accordingly upon filing. For further clarification on how this applies to your unique circumstances, please consult a tax accountant.
You can use more than the 10 provided days per program year. However, the University will bill you for any care beyond what is provided in the program.
All member-generated content submitted on the platform is reviewed by our Member Care team. This includes: general information, profile/job description, photos, reviews, identity/certificate documents etc. Our team works to ensure that live content meets quality and safety guidelines, and does not contain any safety concerns, contact information, and is relevant. In the United Kingdom, we verify member information and childminder registration number with the childminder authority online database for England, Scotland and Wales. We currently do not run background checks on any member for the International countries nor do we offer them the opportunity to purchase a background check. Providers may upload relevant documents to their profile including a country-specific background check or other relevant certifications; these documents can then be accessed by families when reviewing the provider’s profile.
If anyone in an employees' household may have been exposed to COVID-19 or is experiencing symptoms, Care.com requires a 10-day wait period since last possible exposure before requesting Child or Adult Backup Care. When requesting Backup Care, individuals will need to confirm that no members of their household are positive for COVID-19 or are within this precautionary wait period. Additionally, Care.com must be notified if there are any health changes in an individual's household between the time they request care and the day the care is taking place.
In the case of actual infection, per CDC guidelines, Care.com requires employees to confirm that they (or their family) have been both symptom-free for 7 days and fever-free (without any fever-reducing medications) for 3 days.
If an employee has questions regarding backup care services or anything else related to Care.com benefits, they may call 855-781-1303 and follow the prompts to select backup care or another prompt for other services. For more information about backup care, please review this PDF.
If you already have a Care.com account created to find caregivers, we will need to merge the account with your company-sponsored membership. Please email membercare@care.com for support.
Employees with questions about the benefit or eligibility can contact the Benefits Department by submitting an online inquiry or by calling 833-852-2210.
Employees with questions about enrolling can connect with Care.com by calling 855-781-1303 or by emailing careteam@care.com.
Backup Care for Children
Personal Network