Why Invest in Child Care?
If all the child care providers decided to close their doors, how would this affect your business?

• How many people would be absent from work?
• How much income would be be lost?
• How much business would be lost?

If child care doesn't work, neither do the people who depend on it.

Child care is central to the economic well-being of families, businesses, and communities. In most two-parent families, both parents are in the workforce. More than 10 million workers are single parents. Over the next 10 years, it is projected the 85% of the workforce will be working parents. Investment in quality child care doesn't just benefit the workforce today-it's an investment in the work force of the future.

Data on Children of Working Families in Maine

• 65.4% of children under age 6 in Maine live in homes where all adults work.*
• 74.4% of children age 6 - 17 in Maine live in homes where all adults work.*
• The average annual cost of full-time, year-round child care in Maine is $7,419 for an infant and $5,479 for a four-year-old.  The average annual cost of public college tuition in Maine is $4,058.**
• Nationally, 45% of employees with families report that there is "some" or "a lot" of interference between their jobs and their family lives.***

The National Study of the Changing Workforce finds that, "the importance of supportive work-life policies and practices, such as flexible work arrangements, is clear - when they are available, employees exhibit more positive work outcomes, such as job satisfaction, commitment to employer, and retention, as well as more positive life outcomes, such as less interference between job and family life, less negative spillover from job to home, greater life satisfaction, and better mental health."***
* Source: "Estimated State Median Income for 4-Person Families, by State, Fiscal Year 2003," US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services. (http://www.nccic.org/statepro.html)
** Source: Maine Office of Child Care and Head Start: "State of Child Care in Maine, 2002".
*** Source: Families and Work Institute: "Highlights of the National Study of the Changing Workforce Executive Summary, 2002".

What is a Public-Private Partnership?
According to the Child Care Bureau, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, a public-private partnership "exists when the private sector - employers, philanthropy, civic groups, parents, and service providers - joins with the public sector - federal, state, and/or local officials and agencies - in pursuit of a common goal."  All partnerships share the following characteristics:

• Partners work together toward common goals or objectives;
• Each partner contributes time, money, expertise, or other resources; and
• Decision-making and management responsibilities are shared among partners.

To download the entire Employer Toolkit Template, visit the Child Care Bureau's website at nccic.org/ccpartnerships.

Options for Employers
If you are interested in offering child care benefits to your employees, you may be wondering what the options are.  There are a wide variety of services that can be offered - many with little or no cost to your company.

Providing Information

• Resource and Referral Services provide employees with information and counseling about available child care arrangements.
• Parenting or Child Care Seminars inform working parents about available child care resources and parenting supports.

Both options are available from ACAP RDC.  These options are a free service, appropriate for any size company, and can help employees with a variety of needs.  For information about either of these services, please call (207) 768-3045.

Flex-Time and Leave Policies

• Compressed Time: Full-time work with more hours per day, but fewer days per week.
• Flexible Scheduling: Employees adjust their arrival and departure times around designated "core hours" or a certain number of hours per day or week.
• Job Sharing: Two or more people share one full-time job.
• Part-time options: Part-day, part-week, part-month, or part-year work involving prorated pay and benefits.
• Telecommuting: Employees work from home one or more days a week.
• Extended Parental Leave: Time off for the birth or adoption of a child or to care for a child with serious health problems.  Leave time may be paid or unpaid and the policy provides guarantee of same or equivalent job when returning to work.
• Use of Sick Leave for Family Illness: Employees who receive a varying number of paid sick days can use these days to care for any ill family member.
• Personal Leave: Allows employees a specific number of days (with or without pay) to deal with unexpected, short-term emergencies.

These options often help to relieve employee stress and improve morale and productivity.  Flex-Time and Leave Policies also enhance recruitment and retention of employees.

Providing Financial Assistance to Employees

Child care expenses can often be costly for working parents.  Many families can spend at least 10% of their income on child care.  By offering financial assistance to families with child care needs, employers can greatly reduce stress and increase productivity by helping parents access reliable, quality child care.

• Dependent Care Spending Assistance Plan (DCAP): Money is set aside from an employee's gross salary into a nontaxable spending account to pay for child care.  Neither the employer nor the employee pays taxes on the amount of salary reduced for child care.  The employee is able to pay for child care expenses with tax-free dollars.
• Flexible Benefit Plans: Also called a "cafeteria plan," these allow employers to offer a range or benefits and customize their benefits package.
• Child Care Vouchers or Reimbursements: An employer offers workers a child care allowance or subsidy that families can use toward a childcare arrangement of their choice.  The employer contribution can be a percentage of the total cost of care, a flat amount for all participating employees, or determined by a sliding scale based on a family's income.
• Child Care Vendor Plan: An employer contracts with a local child care program to reserve slots for company employees.  The employers pay a portion of the employee's child care costs directly to a child care program.

Some of these options may be more costly than simply offering information or flexible work schedules.  However, there are tax benefits to employers and these options require little administrative responsibility.

Creating and Supporting Child Care Services

• On-Site or Near-Site Child Care Center: An employer develops a new child care center on or near company premises.  Employers subsidize the construction and/or operating costs of the center, and it is often run by an outside provider.
• Partnering with Other Employers: A group of geographically close companies share the expenses of operating a child care center for their employees.  This option is particularly suitable for small companies, downtown businesses, industrial parks, and shopping malls.
• Family Child Care Network: Companies can form or fund networks of family child care homes to provide child care for their employees or member of the community.  Such networks are well suited to businesses that require employees to work early, late, or weekend shifts.
• Back-up or Emergency Care: Employers provide choices for short-term care of employees' children when normal care arrangements fall through, such as when the provider is sick or during unexpected school closings.  Back-up care can be provided on-site or through contracted providers.
• Sick Child Care: Employers provide in-home or center-based care for children who are mildly ill or recovering from a health problem that keeps them from attending school or their usual child care arrangement.
• Odd Hour Care: Employers provide in-home or center-based care for children during nontraditional hours, such as during a late shift or on weekends.
• Before/After School Programs: Employers provide supervised activities for school-age children before school, after school, and during school holidays and vacations.  Many employers also provide transportation between the company, the programs, and the school the child attends.
• Summer Camp and School Holiday Care: Employers offer or sponsor programs on-site or in the local community to provide care for children during summer vacation or on school vacation days.

While these options can require significant start-up costs, they can provide working parents with the security of knowing that their child or children are enrolled in safe, reliable, quality child care, leading to reduced absenteeism and increased productivity.
For more information about any of these options, contact ACAP RDC at
mnelson@acap-me.org or call (207) 768-3045.