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, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury too. 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 access to built-in discounts, 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

5 regions

Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury

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.

Vote for us for the People's Choice Award

Who's in your village?