Corporations providing child daycare
Employers arrange training, volunteers
The Associated Press
NEW YORK—Barbara Katersky has what she calls "working parent syndrome." On weekdays, she wants to be at her job with American Express Co., but she also wants to be with her 2-year-old son. Lawrence.
She worries about what he does with his care providers, how he is progressing and whether he is adequately cared for.
Hoping to alleviate such concerns among employees, American Express and 116 other companies together with 28 public or private organizations have invested $26.3 million during the past year in 308 dependent care programs in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Programs range from training for dependent care providers and in-home volunteer programs for the elderly to the development and expansion of child-care facilities and school vacation programs.
Katersky spoke after participating in one such program, a five-day training workshop for 25 directors of New York-area infant and toddler programs that included an exchange with working parents.
"The session made me feel more confident about my decisions," said Katersky, who is vice president for employee relations at American Express. "If eased the emptiness I feel at not being."
Katersky is one of an estimated 40,000 employees who have taken advantage of the ambitious program known as the American
Business Collaboration for Dependent Care, or ABC, established in September last year.
The goal was for companies jointly to establish elder or child care programs they could not afford alone.
The effort seems to have stepped beyond its initial goals. Fifteen companies committed more money, nine more companies joined the effort, the collaboration collected an additional $900,000 and the number of projects was increased from 300 to 308.
"The collaboration has meant a great deal in an environment of declining resources," said Ted Childs, director of work force diversity programs at International Business Machines Corp.
"The collaboration has done a fantastic job," said Dr. Bradley Googins, director of Boston University's Center on Work and Family.
Besides the more obvious successes in establishing or expanding care programs, Googins said, "It has raised a lot of important issues about the role of the corporation."
Praise for the effort has been almost universal.
The initiative also has brought together disparate groups to focus on community needs, said Dana Friedman, co-president of the New York-based Families and Work Institute.
The collaboration reflects the growing role of women in the labor force and the absence of government aid for working couples with dependents.
Labor Department research shows that 58 percent of women work outside the home, compared to slightly more than a third in
In addition, about 40 percent of workers expect to be responsible for their aging parents in the next five years,the Families and Work Institute projected.
1960. Women constitute nearly half the total U.S.work force, compared to less than a third in 1960.
Recognizing that trend, more companies are spending more money on programs to help employees balance work and family needs. The ABC has marked a new approach to the increasingly vital issue.
"In order to have a population that is as productive as it can be, we need to be involved in work-family areas. It's a partnership," said Cindy Sutherland, director of work-life initiatives at Motorola Inc. "We are investing dollars to attract and retain the best work force available."
The Schaumburg, Ill-based company which makes computer chips and cellular telephones, has focused on four projects under the collaboration that reach about 80 percent of the company's employees. Sutherland said.
Xerox Corp. also has taken on more projects under the collaboration than it would have been able to pay for on its own, said Pat Nazemetz, Xerox's director of benefits.
"We feel it has been a worthwhile endeavor," Nazemetz said.
Xerox, American Express, Motorola and IBM are among the 11 blue-chip corporations that form the core of the collaboration and have provided the bulk of the resources.
Other companies leading the effort are Exxon Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., Travelers Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Amoco Corp., the Allstate unit of Sears Roebuck and Co. and American Telephone & Telegraph Co:
In establishing the programs, the companies created no entity. Outside contractors run the day care centers and projects.Each is financially independent, requiring only an initial investment.
Sutherland said that Motorola's biggest problem has been getting the word out to employees about the new programs offered.
"We have had to look closely at communication," said Mary Kay Leonard, a vice president at the Boston consulting group, WorkFamily Directions, which helped to set up the initiatives nationwide.
"Sometimes, we not only have to get the word out once, but many times and in different ways so employees know about the programs and feel comfortable with them."
Work-Family Directions is currently evaluating the programs for their usefulness to employees and their quality. From there, the decision will be made whether to invest further as a group or not, she said.
It also has been important not to be lulled into a sense that with the collaboration companies have achieved all they needed in terms of dependent care, IBM's Childs said.
"By no means have we solved the problems," he said.
Still, an interesting sideline of the collaboration has been the interaction among companies from different industries or among competitors, said Chris Kjeldsen, Johnson & Johnson's vice president of human resources.
"The whole issue seems to be one that strikes a chord," he said. "The future of the workplace depends on these issues. We're doing together what we can't do alone."
December 8, 1993 *K-you* • COMMUNITY
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