Position Paper

Increase Employee Child Care Services

Compared to a hundred years ago, when the man of the house was considered as the only person with a job, women, in modern times, too have taken the professional world with a storm. For years, women and men have been carrying the responsibilities of being a mother, father, provider, friend, and instructor to their children. While employers acknowledge the profits of their employees, many tend to neglect the hardships that many workers undergo to fulfill their role as providers. Being a young single parent, I find it quite difficult to locate a job that allows me to evenly balance all these roles. Thus, I believe that more places of employment should begin to provide services that cater to the needs of working parents. Employee daycare services would ease commuting for workers and improve the companies' workforce.

In most modern day households, both parents are required to work, which may present problems for both the employer and the employee with regards to getting to and from work. By catering to the needs of the employee, the employer would ease some of these problems by creating on site daycares. Personally, an on site daycare at my place of employment would shorten my commute to and from work each morning. Being able to drive to one location would lower my reasons for being tardy to work, and would save me extra gas expenses used on dropping my child off at other locations. Hence, creating onsite daycares would improve workers accessibility to their places of employment.

Another supporting reason for why companies should consider providing onsite daycares is the effect the provisions have on the companies' workforce. In my opinion, being able to know that my child is in close range would provide me with comfort and security, which in turn would relax and improve my work ethics. An engineering manager at NCR Corp's Retail Solutions Group named Susan Ramberger said that the on-site daycare provided by the company was one of her key factors for remaining at her present job. "For me personally, it's probably the only reason I'm still at NCR," said Ramberger. "It's the linchpin that helps me hold my family and career together. Without it, I'd be at home with my kids" (Gwinnett Business Journal, 2003, p.1). NCR has furthered their efforts to reach out to employees by creating workstations for women on maternity leave. For most parents, including myself, having the security