Booming Problem : Business Leaders Seek Solutions to Child Care
In Orange County, where about 34,000 babies are born each year, the business community, by its own account, has so far been slow in coming to grips with the pressing problem of child care in a tight labor market.
On Tuesday, it took one step forward when more than 100 representatives of local companies attended a one-day seminar in Costa Mesa to discuss ways in which they can keep working moms on the job.
The conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor in conjunction with the state, the county and private local industry groups.
“This is the hottest labor issue in the county,” said Nancy Kupka, personnel director at Le Meridien hotel in Newport Beach. Kupka, like most of those present, attended simply to get information and study her company’s options.
Brimming With Babies
“In our industry, how are you going to tell hotel guests that they can’t have clean towels because your work force is home taking care of sick children?”
Orange County is brimming with babies. According to government figures, the county has the second-highest child population of any county in the state and with the median age of the county at 32 years, there are, no doubt, many more on their way. In fact, births account for 57% of the total annual population growth.
For working mothers, from cleaning and laundry staff to laboratory technicians and rocket scientists, the problems are the same: how to raise children properly while doing a good job at the workplace.
But the dilemma is no less acute for Orange County businesses, which must compete for workers in an increasingly tight labor market. In July, the unemployment rate was just 3.5%, one of the lowest in the country. The issue of child care and employment have become so interlinked in Orange County that many workers are making employment decisions based on the kinds of child-care benefits that are offered.
In an April survey of 321 county employees between the ages of 30 and 35 conducted by UC Irvine’s department of social ecology, 65% of the married women said they would leave their jobs for another that had day-care facilities. Seventy percent of unmarried women said they would leave, while 45% of married men said they would leave.
Various solutions were discussed at the conference, including flexible work schedules, construction of on-site child-care centers and the the use of consortiums, in which several companies contribute to the start-up, maintenance and support of a single day-care facility.
A few Orange County firms have been addressing the day-care problem for years. One of those, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance in Newport Beach, offers its employees direct subsidies for day care. Through a “voucher-vendor” system, Pacific Mutual pays 10% of the cost, while a nearby day-care center pays an additional 10%.
About 60 of Pacific Mutual’s 1,400 workers use the program, at an annual cost to the company of about $20,000 to $30,000, said Joyce L. Bunge, employee relations manager at Pacific Mutual. Bunge said she conceived the idea after several employees stormed into her office one day in 1980 and virtually demanded that the company provide some relief.
“Everyone wants some kind of child care. The problem today is that many companies are waiting for the perfect program. In the meantime, here is something you can do right now,” Bunge said.
Several of those interviewed in the audience said that their companies have so far done little to address the problem but that management is becoming increasingly concerned.
“There’s no doubt that the need is there, and our company has decided it’s time to bite the bullet,” said Kupka of Le Meridien, which employs about 400 people. “Our workers often have two and three jobs at a time. A large number of these people don’t have a lot of money. So we are concerned about making our program financially accessible.”
‘We Came to See’
Cindy Burns, benefits specialist for ICN Pharmaceuticals, said she attended the conference to collect information for a proposed on-site day-care facility for the Costa Mesa firm.
“We came to see what’s out there,” Burns said. This week ICN will begin a program in which employees can channel up to $5,000 of their annual salaries into a tax-free fund to be used for child care.
Burns said that while her company wants an on-site facility, several obstacles may stand in the way. One, she said, could be obtaining liability insurance.
At Silicon Systems, a Tustin computer chip maker, an aggressive child-care package could prove crucial for attracting and keeping assembly line workers, according to Linda Milkie, head of employee relations. Silicon Systems has seen its staff grow from about 650 in the spring of 1987 to more than 815 currently and has found it increasingly difficult to find more workers.
“This has really brought the child-care issue into focus for us. All the mothers that are staying home come to mind,” she said.
