Junior Achievement and Staples Expand Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond

Junior Achievement and Staples have expanded the partnership behind Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond, the renamed successor to the three-decade-old tradition of walking children through their parents’ workplaces — and, for the first time, opening that door to children who have never had a parent’s office, cubicle or job site to visit at all.

The event began in 1993 as Take Our Daughters to Work Day, founded by the Ms. Foundation for Women under president Marie C. Wilson, with support from foundation founder Gloria Steinem. The idea was narrow and specific: studies at the time showed girls’ self-esteem dropping in early adolescence, and the day was built to put them inside a workplace to see what was possible for themselves. It grew fast. By 1996, more than 5 million girls in 14 countries were taking part. Schools pushed back on a program that excluded half their students, and boys were formally added in 2003, renaming it Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. By 2018, participation had reached more than 37 million people at 3.5 million workplaces in the United States.

On April 24, 2025, Junior Achievement assumed leadership of the program from the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Foundation and renamed it Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond, presented by the office-supply retailer. That inaugural edition ran under the theme “For A New Generation” and fell on April 24; this year’s observance landed on April 23, 2026, and the next one falls on the fourth Thursday of April 2027 — April 22. The point of the rebrand, according to Junior Achievement, is to reach children who would otherwise never see the inside of a workplace, whether because a parent’s job will not allow visitors, because there is no parent available to bring them, or because school and work schedules do not line up.

Junior Achievement and Staples extended and broadened that partnership on March 17, 2026, adding local program support and volunteer engagement in several US cities and national backing for Future Bound, a student conference at Boston University in June 2026. “Today’s young people must have the same access to opportunities as previous generations,” said Tim Greinert, president of Junior Achievement USA, in the announcement. “With AI changing the work landscape, skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and continuous learning are going to be essential. Our learning experiences are shown to promote these skills, and with Staples’ support, we will reach even more students during this critical time.”

Staples’ chief executive framed the deepened partnership the same way Junior Achievement did: as a long-term investment in exposing students to careers, not a single day of programming.

Junior Achievement now reaches more than 4.8 million students a year across nearly 100 US markets, and its parent network, JA Worldwide, serves over 19.9 million students in more than 100 countries.

Sarah Johal, a marketing professional who founded ride-hailing company Lyft’s employee resource group for parents and caregivers after what she has described as a difficult return from maternity leave at a previous job, has argued the event does not require a budget to work. She told Entrepreneur contributor Christine Michel Carter that companies should decide early whether to hold the observance on the national date in April, when some parents are reluctant to pull a child out of school, or move it to summer instead. Johal said the zero-budget version can matter as much as a fully staffed one — launching a parents’ employee resource group, pairing a child with a mentor for the day, or simply posting a group photo to the company’s own social accounts, versus career-panel discussions and hands-on workshops for companies with a budget to spend. “Regardless if your company only has two parents or 2,000, it’s worth expressing how your company embraces working families,” Johal said. Carter, summarizing the case for employers, concluded that a well-run version of the day pays off in three measurable ways: worker satisfaction, higher productivity and better retention.

Colombia’s El Empleo job portal has fielded the same question from readers there: is there a rule against bringing a child into the office? None exists at the national level, according to the outlet — the decision sits with each company’s internal policy, and depends heavily on whether the workplace is an office or an industrial site where a child could be at risk. Some Colombian employers, El Empleo noted, keep on-site childcare space so employees’ children have a safe place to be near their parents.

Companies participating for the first time, in the United States or abroad, can find planning material, including activity guides for children in grades 2 through 12, at the program’s official site, tacw.ja.org.

(Photo: Image by finelightarts from Pixabay)