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Who's in your village?

More than bookings. Babysitting, matched for your family, and a community building something bigger.

Why we started

We started The Village Co because we'd lived the gap ourselves. A parent stuck without care. A sitter with no real vetting behind them. A system that hadn't changed in a generation, even though everything else about how families and workplaces operate had.

This page is about the part of our work that isn't bookings or revenue. It's about who we've been able to help, and what we're building next.

It started in Waikato. The need went national.

We started The Village Co here in Hamilton, because this is where we felt the gap ourselves. Since launch, that's grown into 175+ paid bookings for Waikato families alone, not just for date nights, but for hospital stays, work trips, and the ordinary chaos of family life, with families coming back to book the same trusted sitters again and again.

But the need we found in Waikato wasn't unique to Waikato. We've since grown to support families across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch too, with more regions on the horizon. Wherever a family is, the same trust, the same vetting and the same village stand behind every booking.

When a family refers another family to the village, they earn credit towards their next booking. And through our employer and venue partnerships, many families get built-in discounts of five to ten percent, funded by us, never by reducing what sitters are paid. Cost shouldn't be the reason a family misses out on safe care.

175+

Paid bookings for Waikato families

4 regions

Waikato, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with more on the horizon

5-10% off

Built-in discounts funded by us, never by reducing what sitters are paid

Supporting employers, and the parents they employ

New Zealand employers are having a real conversation right now about what they owe working parents, from sick leave to flexible hours to genuine childcare support. We built Village for Work to give Waikato employers a practical way to step into that conversation: not just policy, but something staff can actually use.

Through our employer partnerships, businesses can offer their teams discounted access to vetted childcare, at no cost to the employer. It's a benefit that costs nothing to offer and means everything to the parent who no longer has to choose between a sick day and a shift.

This week, employers from hospitals to banks to tech firms launched Village for Work for their people.

Backing the next generation into work

The days of handing your CV around the mall are gone. So is the version of babysitting most of us grew up with, a fifteen year old, a pizza, ten dollars, and hoping for the best. It worked, until it didn't. Most families have a story about the time it didn't.

We built something different. Every sitter on our platform goes through a six-layer vetting process: police check, ID verification, video interview, first aid certification, childcare review, and reviews from real parents, backed by $2,000,000 in public liability cover on every single booking. That's not red tape. That's what lets a young person turn babysitting into a genuine, insured, paid role, and lets a parent hand their child over knowing exactly who's on the other side of the door.

We've recruited sitters from polytechnics and universities across the country, giving young people in Waikato real, flexible, well-supported work, often their first paid job.

Proud finalists, Waikato Business Awards 2026

We're honoured to be a finalist in the Community Contribution category at the Waikato Business Awards 2026. Whatever happens on the night, the families, employers and young sitters we've been able to support are the reason we do this.

Have a story about how The Village Co has helped you?

We'd love to hear it.

Get in touch

Village for Work

Childcare as a
workplace benefit.

Working parents are your highest-performing, most loyal people. They are also the ones most likely to reduce hours or leave when childcare falls through. Village for Work changes that.

Village for Work is a childcare benefit for NZ employers, offered as a discounted company rate or a Back to Work bundle of pre-purchased hours for staff returning from parental leave. Every sitter is vetted and every booking includes $2 million liability insurance.

Talk to us about your team How it works
1 in 4
NZ working parents have reduced hours due to childcare challenges
$0
Admin for your HR team. We handle matching, payments, and support.
6
Vetting layers every sitter passes before they can accept bookings
Same day
Matching available. Parents get support fast when they need it most.
The challenge

Childcare is a workforce issue. Most employers have not treated it like one.

When childcare falls through, working parents miss meetings, leave early, or call in sick. It is not a personal problem. It is a structural one, and businesses absorb the cost without naming it.

Workforce participation drops significantly for parents of young children, particularly mothers returning from parental leave. The gap between wanting to work and being able to work is almost entirely a childcare access problem.

Village for Work gives your people access to trusted, vetted babysitters through their employer. It removes the friction that makes balancing work and family so hard.

Talk to us

"Not a directory. Not a marketplace. Not an agency. Something better."

The Village Co., founded in NZ

100s
of NZ families supported across 7 cities
$2M
liability insurance on every booking
NZ
Police check required for every sitter
Real
humans behind every match, every time
How it works

Simple for HR. Meaningful for parents.

Your team gets access. We do the rest. No procurement headache, no ongoing admin.

01

Choose your plan

Pick the option that suits your team. A discounted company rate your employees can access anytime, or a Back to Work bundle for staff returning from parental leave.

02

Your team signs up

Employees create a family profile on The Village Co. platform. We start the matching process. Your HR team is not involved in individual bookings.

03

We handle everything else

Sitter matching, introductions, payments, support, and insurance. All of it. You receive a monthly usage summary. Your people get reliable childcare.

What we handle

Your HR team does nothing after setup.

Everything that would normally land on a parent's shoulders or in your inbox.

🤝

Sitter matching

We personally match each employee with a vetted sitter who fits their family, location, and schedule.

🛡️

Vetting and safety

Six layers including police checks, ID verification, references, and a face-to-face interview with our team.

💳

Payments and billing

Automated booking payments via Stripe. Monthly usage summary to your business. No individual expense claims.

💬

Parent support

Our team is available before, during, and after every booking via Facebook, email, or the support portal.

📋

Monthly usage report

A clear summary of how the benefit is being used across your team. Aggregate data only. Full employee privacy protected.

🔄

Ongoing management

If a sitter is no longer the right fit, we find a new match. If something changes, we adapt. You do not manage any of this.

How you can offer it

Two ways to support your people.

Both plans include a monthly usage summary report. All pricing is tailored to your team size.

Ongoing benefit

Discounted company rate

Your employees access The Village Co. at a discounted rate, anytime they need childcare. Ideal as a standing staff benefit.

✓ Discounted platform access for all employees
✓ Employees book independently at your company rate
✓ Priority matching in your team's cities
✓ Monthly usage summary report to HR
✓ Full sitter vetting and $2M insurance on every booking
Talk to us about this plan
Return to work

Back to Work bundle

Pre-purchased childcare hours gifted to employees returning from parental leave. A meaningful, practical welcome back.

✓ You purchase a set number of childcare hours per employee
✓ Hours gifted directly to the returning parent's account
✓ Used flexibly — evenings, weekends, school holidays, work trips
✓ Sitter matched before their first day back if needed
✓ Monthly usage summary report to HR
✓ Full sitter vetting and $2M insurance on every booking
Talk to us about this plan

Both plans can be combined. All pricing is customised to your organisation size and cities. Contact us to talk through what works for your team.

Back to Work bundle

The most important benefit you can offer a returning parent.

The first 12 weeks back at work after parental leave are the hardest. Childcare logistics, sleep deprivation, and the guilt of leaving a young child make this period a retention risk for employers and an enormous mental load for parents.

A Back to Work bundle from The Village Co. removes one of the biggest practical barriers. Pre-purchased hours. A matched sitter ready before they walk back through the door. A signal that your organisation actually values them.

It is the most tangible thing you can do to support a parent returning to work.

Talk to us about bundles

How a bundle works

You purchase hoursChoose how many childcare hours to gift per returning employee.
eg. 20 hrs
We match their sitterWe find and introduce a vetted sitter before their first day back.
Pre-matched
Parent uses flexiblyHours used whenever they need — evenings, weekends, a work trip.
No expiry
You get a summaryMonthly report showing usage across your returning parent cohort.
Monthly

Bundle size and pricing is tailored to your team. Contact us at hello@thevillageco.nz to get a quote.

Why Village for Work

Not a directory. Not a marketplace. Not an agency. The only childcare benefit of its kind in NZ.

We personally match your employees with sitters who fit their family. We handle the vetting, payments, and support. Your HR team sets it up once.

Talk to our team
FAQs

Questions employers ask.

Anything else, email us directly.

Most employer setups are live within a week. We handle onboarding and the employee welcome flow. Your HR team reviews and signs off. We take it from there.
No. Individual bookings are between the employee and The Village Co. Your HR team receives a monthly usage summary. That is the extent of your ongoing involvement.
We send a monthly usage summary report and invoice. For the Back to Work bundle, you pay upfront for the hours gifted. For the company rate, we invoice your agreed subsidy (if any) monthly.
Yes. Individual booking data is never shared with employers. Your HR team receives aggregate usage data only. Employees' family and booking details are private to them and The Village Co.
Auckland, Hamilton, Waikato, Tauranga, Cambridge, Wellington, and Christchurch, with more coming. If your team is across multiple locations, get in touch and we will confirm coverage.
Yes. Eligibility criteria are set by you. We configure the benefit to match your HR policy and apply it consistently across your team.
We find them a new match. We do not leave families without support and we do not leave employers with a benefit that is not working. That is our commitment.
We typically recommend 16 to 24 hours as a starting point, equivalent to 4 to 6 evening or weekend bookings. Some organisations offer more. We will help you work out what makes sense for your budget and team size.

Let's talk about
your team.

Tell us about your organisation and what you are trying to solve. We will come back to you within one business day.

Email us Read the FAQs

hello@thevillageco.nz · 07 807 9114