Taking Care of Its Own : Great Western: The company’s $3-million on-site child center is a boon to employees. But it’s also expected to produce happier workers who are more productive and take less time off.
In December, Debbie Ashley wrote down the pros and cons of several supervisory job offers. Although other positions involved more money, the Granada Hills woman accepted a position at Great Western for one reason: its on-site child-care center.
“Someone could offer me more money somewhere else, and I wouldn’t leave,” said Ashley, who has 10 years of banking experience. “None of the other companies have on-site child care.”
Great Western, which has its corporate headquarters in Chatsworth, became the first major San Fernando Valley corporation to provide this perk when it opened its $3-million child-care center in February. Ashley’s 2-year-old son, Ryan, was one of the first children enrolled. Full-time child care includes a hot lunch and two snacks and costs employees $380 to $420 a month, which can be automatically deducted from their paychecks.
Although several Warner Center companies have joined in supporting a Woodland Hills child-care center, only Great Western has paid for its own center, created exclusively for the children of its employees.
The center has spacious classrooms, experienced teachers, state-of-the-art curriculum emphasizing creativity, and modern indoor and outdoor play equipment. Nearly 50 children are enrolled, and applications are flooding the center’s business office. At full capacity, the center will hold 144 children.
“I think we’re bound to see more of this kind of thing in the future,” said Toby Lombardi, the firm’s senior vice president of human resources, who conceived the idea of the center nearly a decade ago.
“We offer a top-notch quality child-care center for the children of our employees, and suddenly the job is more attractive. This arrangement works well for Great Western and its employees,” he said.
For years, business analysts have agreed that corporate on-site child care would be a benefit of the future. Lombardi said Great Western believes the center will produce happier employees who take less time off and who are more productive on the job. Ashley said she can already see this happening.
“I used to be several miles from my son,” she said. “If he was sick, I needed the rest of the day off.”
Now, Ashley can see Ryan’s classroom by looking out her office window. She spends her lunch hour with him and can check on him any time of the day by watching him through the one-way viewing glass in each classroom.
“I feel like he’s right there in the next room,” she said. “There is nothing like that kind of peace of mind. Yes, I’m happier at work. I’m happier all the time.”
Lombardi said 75% of the company’s employees are women. In 1988, Lombardi initiated a needs-assessment survey among employees and found that child care was a top priority--especially among women. The company’s upper management agreed to develop a center as part of Great Western’s Wellness Program, which also includes educational classes, support groups and a fitness center.
“That’s what makes this sort of child-care center different,” said Cindy Moskovic, who coordinates the wellness program. “We see child care as a wellness issue, not a problem.”
Once plans for a center were approved, the company asked its employees what they would want if their child attended. Next, Great Western hired Child and Family Services, a nonprofit organization that staffs similar corporate-sponsored child-care centers in Panorama City, Hollywood and other cities and communities statewide.
“They brought us in, gave us a list of their employee suggestions, and told us to staff and set up the best center possible,” said Ellen Horwitz, child-care management director for Child and Family Services.
The result is evident. Classrooms in the 16,000-square-foot center are nearly twice the size required by state law. Bathrooms are geared to toddler size, with toilets just 10 inches from the ground and basin sinks also low. Child-size kitchen centers, playhouses and carpeted lofts are designed to encourage creativity, imagination and development. Outdoor equipment includes the newest slides and climbing apparatus, sandy play areas, shaded picnic tables for arts and crafts or snack time, and a fleet of new tricycles.
In addition, teachers assistants at the center are required to meet state standards, and teachers must have their bachelor’s degree. To attract high-quality instructors, the company built spacious staff offices, lunchrooms and an industrial kitchen.
“It’s not just a child’s dreamland here,” said Marsheen Pleak, center director. “We love it, too.”
The parents agree. Celesta Smith, a supervisor with Great Western, recently enrolled her 2-year-old daughter, Patricia Bradley. Smith has been enjoying lunches with her daughter ever since.
“Before, I really felt the separation between us,” Smith said. “Now, if there’s an emergency or even a minor problem, I can literally walk over here and get her. You can’t put a price on that peace of mind. This is the kind of thing more and more companies should be turning to.”
Before Great Western’s pace-setting center, several Warner Center companies combined with Cal State Northridge in developing a child-care center for Warner Center employees. An innovative, structure-free curriculum was designed by Dianne Philibosian, Ph.D., associate dean of CSUN’s School of Communication, Health and Human Services. Funded in part by Warner Center companies, United Way and a three-year U.S. Department of Education grant, the Center for Childhood Creativity opened in March, 1987.
One-third of the 50 students now enrolled are children of Warner Center employees. Tuition for all children is $450 a month and includes lunch and two snacks. Center Director Jan David said tentative plans are to move the center, which currently operates out of the West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, to a Warner Center site in the next year.
“We would like to offer those employees the convenience of a closer center,” David said. “But there are many other ways we help those employees.”
For instance, the center offers free courses for parents on child management and other aspects of parenting. Children can be left there up to 12 hours a day if necessary, and it tries to provide a family style environment.
Children are grouped into one of two families, both containing children 2 to 5 years old. Snacks are available whenever the children are hungry and naps are optional.
“We do not tell children, ‘OK, it’s nap time!’ ” David said. “If they’re tired, they know it. It is up to them to decide when to take a nap and whether or not they need one.”
This structure-free environment is both commended and criticized for its new thinking.
Children at the center apparently enjoy the freedom. “I came here because at my old day care, they made me take a nap,” said 4-year-old Chelsea. “Now I can do what I want.”
Many parents are similarly supportive. “I prefer the stimulation of imagination that goes on at this center,” said Norm Niv, whose 3-year-old daughter, Unique, is a student there. “This way, the child can create his or her own curriculum.”
Horwitz, however, who has helped set up and staff dozens of centers for Child and Family Services, disagrees.
“Children are happier and more balanced if they have some sense of structure,” she said. “We believe in encouraging a great deal of creativity within that structure.”
