Child Care , continued ...

... help them compete for talent, improve productivity, retain the best employees, and reduce turnover.

You probably wouldn't deny a talented employee a powerful computer he or she needed to do the best possible job. Likewise, you shouldn't deny help with child care, which can affect an employee's performance just as profoundly, said Peter Burki, CEO of LifeCare ®, Inc., a Westport, Connecticut-based national employee benefits organization.

"Savvy employers understand that human capital is the key to success for any organization," said Burki, whose company provides work/life, EAP, legal/financial assistance, health and wellness programs and other supportive workplace services. "Giving individuals the tools they need to be more effective outside of work allows them to be more effective inside of work."

The lack of affordable, quality child care is reaching crisis proportions, according to some experts. Forty-seven percent of working parents report in a recent LifeCare ®, Inc., poll that they have no arrangements in place for before or after school care. That translates into thousands of latchkey children.

Meanwhile, 80% of companies are forced to give their employees time off when child care arrangements fall through, costing annual losses of more than $3 billion.

In response, more employers are offering employees a variety of options, including: onsite child care; backup care; child care tax-deferred flexible spending accounts; subsidies; partnerships with local, quality centers; and support for local, after-school programs.

"It's not necessarily a matter of being altruistic," said Westaff Human Resources representative Gail Jern. "Employers realize that this issue isn't going to go away for them because it's not going to go away for working parents."

Though more costly, the option with the biggest financial return for a company, experts say, is onsite care.

"The benefits are crystal clear," said Susan Seitel, president of Work & Family Connection Inc., a Minnesota consulting firm that offers web-based work-life courses on flexibility for managers and staff. "Companies with child care centers say with the greatest enthusiasm that if an employee has a child in their company center they simply don't leave. Several studies confirm that."

Given that it typically costs 150 to 200% of an exempt employee's yearly salary to replace them, Seitel said, the ability to retain top talent is a huge benefit.

While some companies may not be in a position to spring for an onsite facility, there's still a lot they can do to provide for employees' child care needs (see Side Story).

Some employers are banding together to support or even start local child care centers. Palcare, a flexible, schedule-based child care center in Burlingame, California, for example, was founded by the San Francisco International Airport and several local companies 15 years ago. The unique, nationally recognized center serves the needs of airport and airline employees whose schedules are in constant flux.

In return for the partnership's continual support, Palcare provides their employees with priority enrollment and sometimes even scholarships or waivers of specific fees, said Palcare Director Nirmala Dillman.

But Palcare's high quality care benefits not only those employees, but also employees in the greater community, Dillman said. And for companies interested in becoming good corporate citizens, the impact on the children themselves shouldn't be overlooked.

"A company's investment in quality child care helps to create happy outcomes for kids in terms of their educational, mental and social development," Dillman added. "It can also make all the difference to its employees' productivity and therefore the company's own success. Investing in quality care creates a win-win-win situation."