With across-the-board worker shortages in the health care field at an all-time high, the strain on existing staff degrades patient care. This is evident in the staffing of hospitals, private medical offices, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, etc. Also of note, since the COVID pandemic, the costs of good childcare have increased substantially while access has shrunk dramatically. For many families who work in health-related positions, the childcare services they depended on before the pandemic became prohibitively expensive or unavailable since COVID. Obviously, the childcare conundrum affects families in all industries.
The connection between workers and their childcare services has an immediate effect on both the quality of work and the peace of mind parents have when they are confident their children are well cared for. Parents don’t always want to be separated from their young children for too long. Their concerns for how things are going with their kids while they are out of sight is distracting from their productivity. This often becomes more complicated and more anxiety producing the further away the children are from their parents.
NBC News Bay Area recently ran a story (link at the end) on how an assisted living facility operated a childcare center within their space and recognized the symbiosis between the two services and how both services thrived. Businesses operating childcare services for their staff is not new or uncommon. Increasingly, large corporations are designating space for childcare services to support their employees with new and young children. This encourages parents of new children to return to work sooner, and more confident that their kids will be well cared for. But it also enables parents to more easily spend a little time with their young ones during the day. The end result is increased worker productivity and ease of monitoring the progress of their kids.
In this particular type of environment, there is mutual stimulation for both the children and residents at the assisted living facility (ALF). Young children get to interact with seniors in various states of cognitive awareness. This teaches the kids about patience and understanding the differences between old people and young. In return, the residents of the ALF get to spend time with young children, who make them smile and remember their own youth, experiencing the wonder and surprise in the eyes of the children.
The benefits of such arrangements far outweigh the negatives. Indeed, a company must have the dedicated space to host a childcare center and create an appropriate environment. Hopefully the space will be large enough to support the number of workers who require such services. The business must also be able to find the right people to staff its childcare department. And most importantly, the business must be willing to manage the liability and security issues that are presented when there are young children in the workplace.
Parents who are able to visit with their children while at work, even for a few minutes say they are more relaxed about their kids’ wellbeing knowing they can easily drop in to give them a hug, or to watch them play and develop social skills. The mothers and fathers are also better able to monitor who is taking care of their kids and how they are being treated, as well as the activities offered. New parents frequently convey their fear their kids will bond too closely with nannies and childcare workers – strangers – while they are at work.
To a large degree, childcare centers within their place of employment negates those fears. It also increases the time parents get to spend with their kids since they don’t have to schlep to pick them up or drop them off from a remote location, and can visit with them during the day. Parents feel and feed their bond with their child. These days there are so many areas in parents lives that produce stress and worry. Daycare provided at the same location as where the parent works: Priceless!
Many corporations around the country offer a daycare incentive as part of their benefits package, but more often than not this only helps defray the cost of off-site childcare. It’s a step in the right direction and certainly a helpful perk for many. But parents must still shuttle their kids to and from a potentially out-of-the-way care center, adding to their stress and commute time.
Corporate underwriting of internal childcare facilities is rare. Yes, it’s an expensive undertaking. But the upside to having such facilities include improved staff retention, and contributing to employee work-life balance and job satisfaction, reducing parental stress, and minimizes absenteeism. These are important metrics that have great value beyond their costs.
Forward-thinking operations that want to incorporate some kind of childcare scenario into their plans will consider spatial requirements in their planning to ensure there is sufficient internal space to accommodate both their primary functions and facilities for their employees’ kids.
The compatibility of work and on-site child care, if done correctly, can be a win-win for all involved. Indeed, on-site child care, regardless of the industry, is a match made in heaven.
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