INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE /JUNE 5, 1990

 

 

Employers can help solve child care crisis

hild care in North America

has reached crisis propor-

tions, according to experts
in the field. And as the number of
dual-income families in North
America continues to escalate, the
demand will only get worse.

“Child care is a massive crisis
and to address it will require three
partners — employers, govern-
ment, and parents,” says Dr.
Sandra Burud, president of Burud
& Associates, a California-based
planning firm that conducts child
care needs assessments and
feasibility studies for corporations.

“With so many more women
in the workforce, and the added
pressure on families to have two
incomes, these things are happen-
ing faster than services are being
offered,” says Burud. “There is a
lot of positive action being taken
but it’s not keeping pace with the
demand for child care in the
United States and Canada.”

Thirty years ago, a typical
family consisted of a breadwin-
ning man and a stay-at-home wife
who ran the house and raised the
kids, but that’s not the case now.
Many families now depend on
two incomes, and large numbers
of women have joined the work
force. And child care experts like
Burud agree that there are not
enough child care services to meet
the demands of families in which
both parents work. What then
happens, say experts, is that
employee productivity, morale,
and overall wellbeing suffers.

How can the problem be
solved? Burud says that since
employers need to find and retain
skilled employees, it’s becoming
evident that companies have to get
involved in their workers’ child
care needs.

But there is a bright spot in the
child care crisis, according to
Burud. Employers often find that
helping to provide child care ser-
vices is much more beneficial than

anticipated. “It’s a win-win situa-
tion,” she says. “Helping, to pro-
vide child care services cuts their
business costs and improves their
public image. It has a strong
human relations value, and for a
cost-cutting measure it has posi-
tive employee relations value,
which is unusual for a cost-cutting
measure. It’s not often that those
two go together.”

Joe and Maria Minter of Van-
couver are typical of many
families who are feeling the strain
of earning two incomes while rais-
ing a family. He’s a parts salesper-
son for an auto dealer, and she’s a
research assistant at a community
college. Their children are aged
nine, three, and one. Both parents

have to work to pay the bills. They
need quality child care service, but
it’s hard to find.

“There’s no space in good day
care,” says Maria. “The waiting
list is one or two years, and you
want to stay away from non-
licensed day care.”

The Minters say their jobs are
affected by the lack of child care
services. “It changes my work
hours,” says Joe. “We have no one
to look after our oldest one, so I
can’t go to work until there’s some-
one available to do it.” Maria
finds herself unable to leave the
problem at home. “Concern
builds up all through the day. It

 

please see EMPLOYER on p. 6

 

New research indicates that
many companies are willing to ad-
dress the child care needs of their
employees, and next month
employers can find out how to do
it from the experts.

Dr. Sandra Burud and Dr. Ar-
thur Emlen are among those who
will speak on the benefits of
employer-supported child care at
a symposium for the business
community at the University of
British Columbia.

Symposium to address
employer’s child care concerns

 

 

At the June 20 symposium, 8urud will provide specific information
on how businesses can help meet their employees’ child care needs. “T’ll
provide information on how a company moves toward making a
decision about child care benefits, for example, cost projections, alter-
native approaches. timing issues, and how to get the right people
involved,” says Burud. “The emphasis will be on how companies can
make a decision whether to do it or not, then how to go about it.”

Dr. Emlen’s talk at the symposium will emphasize the practical and
cost-effective aspects of employer-supported child care. “Ill draw from
my experience in surveying how employees manage child care and it’s
impact on the workplace, how company policies make it easier or

 

 

please see SYMPOSIUM on p. 6

 

 

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