Business & child care: corporate America is finally listening to its employees' requests to help solve the day-care dilemma

Black Enterprise, Dec, 1993 by Marjorie Whigham-Desir

Once the bane of working mothers, child care is now front page news. Rumblings over the Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood nominations for U.S. attorney general dramatically highlighted just how troublesome child care has become for employees in all lines of work--from the assembly line to the highest chambers of justice. It is a problem that cuts across race, class, economic and gender lines.

Since 1963, the percentage of women in America's workforce has shifted from 34% to 45%. By the year 2005, women are expected to make up 57% of all new entrants and almost 50% of the workforce. Keeping pace with this trend is the urgent demand for comprehensive and dependable child care assistance.

African-American families are hit especially hard by the child care crisis. One-third of the black population is under age 18. But according to the National Black Child Development Institute Inc. (NBCDI), only 36% of black children under 18 lived with both parents in 1991, compared with 67% in 1960. "The mothers of most African-American preschoolers are employed. But since women are often in lower paying jobs, their financial situation is tenuous. Getting increased benefits for child care has become critical," explains NBCDI executive director Evelyn K. Moore.

Even among middle-class black professionals, finding quality child care is as much an issue as affording it. Over 16 million workers, or almost 60% of the workforce, are dual career couples with children under 18, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, there are only 80,000 day-care centers or preschools to care for the 13 million children six years and under. And, another 16 million children attending kindergarten or grade school need after-school care. This child care shortage, especially infant care, is rapidly creating a crisis in the workplace.

Child and dependent care problems are already having a serious impact on worker absenteeism, recruitment and retention--and affecting America's bottom line. Compounding the problem is the Family and Medical Leave Act, which mandates that businesses with 50 or more employees establish time-off policies for employees and their families.

Even as large corporations pare down their workforce, work-family benefits simmer as a front-burner issue. Senior executives and human resource managers tackle the question of whether business can and should get involved in the child care issue.

"Companies lose good people when they can't come to work because of poor child care arrangements," argues NBCDI's Moore. "Until a country--its government, private businesses and communities--cares about its children, it cannot continue to thrive."

"Quality child care is one of the most critical issues facing our employees," says NationsBank spokesperson Martha Larsh. "We're trying to identify programs that work best for our employees, depending upon their job requirements and family needs, to help them balance their responsibilities at home and to help them be more responsive to customer needs at work."

An estimated 5,600 public and private employers provide some form of child and dependent care assistance, and another 500 offer elder care assistance. Companies typically develop these programs because: 1) a valued employee has difficulty arranging child care and is forced to leave the company; 2) more women in the executive suite make child care a personalized issue for senior managers; or, 3) they finally realize that as more women join the workforce, the need for dependable day-care arrangements will continue to increase.

More and more American companies are slowly waking up to these new realities. To continue attracting the most qualified workers, businesses must help employees identify viable child care options. The bulk of these corporate efforts fall into four areas: flexible scheduling, financial assistance, referral sources and direct services.

While added costs are a factor, businesses can no longer afford not to provide child care options. "It's a way to attract and retain the best workers," explains Theodore Childs Jr., director of diversity and head of Workforce Solutions, a work-family human resources division of IBM. "As the demographics of the workforce continue to shift, it will be essential that businesses meet family demands in order to retain a qualified labor force," he continues.

"I think there's a lot less resistance today to addressing family issues," comments William L. Johnson, superintendent of manufacturing for the IBM Technology Head Assembly plant in San Jose, Calif. "If someone is out, we must use backup specialists or pull someone from another line or facility. Managers realize we must combine work life with personal life if we are to be productive," he summarizes.

Human resource managers like Valerie T. Hamilton of Sterling Winthrop Inc. in New York City admit that the corporate environment is still evolving on the conflict between work and family needs. However, there are growing signs of improvement, she feels "Employers are grappling with the issue of what is feasible and what are the most effective ways to support our people," she says. "But all companies must educate themselves and their employees that this is not a woman's issue or a female issue. It is a family issue that affects everyone, so it affects business."