‘90s Family : Who’s Minding...

Despite poor economic times, Southern California employers in the last three years opened about 10 on-site child-care centers, the most significant surge in the industry since it began about 15 years ago. The increase brings the number of work-site child-care centers in Los Angeles County to about 50.

In addition, numerous businesses give employees pamphlets on how to find child care, schedule flexible hours or offer programs in which pretax dollars are deducted for child care.

The leaders in on-site care are hospitals (18), which started supplying child care to lure nurses, and film studios (7), whose on-site care positions them to compete for talent and to aid employees slogging through 14-hour workdays.

“Just in the last five years, Disney, Warner, Sony and MCA Universal all opened on-site centers,” says Eric Nelson, director of Child Care Planning Associates, a consulting firm that helps establish workplace child care. “It is a progressive industry and they tend to be socially progressive with their benefits,” he says. Nelson estimates that building a center for 100 kids can cost from $700,000 to as much as $2 million.

The other types of employers that most often sponsor workplace centers are banks and government and educational institutions.

The growth in work-site care in Los Angeles is not echoed around the country. According to Work/Family Directions, a Boston-based for-profit consulting company, there are from 1,400 to 2,000 on-site child-care centers in the nation and the growth has decreased from about 300 a year to about 150 a year as employers have expanded into other types of support systems, such as referral services and flextime.

With the exception of large metropolitan areas, on-site child-care centers do not appear to be showing significant growth, says Ellen Galinsky, co-president of the Families and Work Institute, a New York-based nonprofit consulting company that deals with work/family issues.

“It doesn’t work for all employers to do it,” Galinsky says. “People who have long distances to drive may not want to bring their children. One company wanted to do it, but a survey found [that] what people really wanted was a change in absentee discipline procedures. The biggest perceived barriers are cost, equity [when centers can’t handle every employee’s child] and liability. There is some question about whether or not there is evidence showing cost benefits.”

The gains are clear for employees who opt for on-site child care where it is available. Galinsky says studies show that workplace child care significantly reduces parental stress, increases the amount of time shared with a child, symbolizes the company’s support and empathy for family needs, and makes it easier to shuttle children to doctor’s appointments.

“On-site child care really produces a positive relationship between the employer and the employee,” Galinsky says. “It means the employee is going to be willing to go the extra mile.”

Nelson, who established the Child’s Educational Center for employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, says the 16-year-old center for 300 children ages 2 months through 12 years became so popular in its first eight years that parents lobbied for an after-school program that began in 1987. Buses ferry children from schools to JPL.

“We have seen people at JPL turn down jobs that were offering them $10,000 more a year,” Nelson says. “These are people who care a lot about the quality of family life, and the child-care center supplies a real oasis, security, support and a relaxed environment.”