what's good for business

Dependable, productive, committed employees are what is good for business. A commitment to supporting the child care needs of employees can improve their workplace effectiveness and serve as a recruitment tool to attract skilled workers.

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What are Businesses Around the Country Doing?

Finding Child Care for Non-Traditional Work Schedules
Today, many working parents work non-traditional schedules other than the usual 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. The search for child care to match these schedules is more than tough.

• Non-Traditional Work Schedule

Supporting Parents of Young Children

• Strategy 1: Family Resource Centers
• Strategy 2: Home Visitation Programs
• Strategy 3: Parent Resource Kits
• Strategy 4: Parent Leadership and Advocacy Training

Investing in the Child Care Industry

• An Economic Development Strategy for Kansas

A healthy economy requires strong businesses and productive workers. Child care not only fuels that strength but it is also an industry that provides positive returns. It is an infrastructure that allows parents to work. While not typically viewed as such, child care providers comprise a rapidly growing industry that contributes a significant amount of economic activity: creating jobs, generating tax dollars, and pumping money into local economies through the purchase of goods and services.

The Child Care industry makes an economic contribution that has many ripple effects.

• Working Kansas families who rely on child care earn almost $1.98 billion a year.
• Each Kansas dollar invested in the child care industry leverages approximately $3 in federal funds.
• Each new federal dollar generates a total of $1.98 in economic activity in the state.
• The net impact is nearly $6 for every $1 Kansas spends on child care.

Week of the Young Child

Working families need child care and supportive employer policies to be able to meet the needs of their young children throughout the day.

In the United States the majority of mothers with children under age 18 work, including 59% of those with infants and 74% of those with school-aged children.

Approximately 13 million infants, toddlers, and preschool children are regularly in non-parental care in the United States, including 45% of children younger than one year.

The Census Bureau reports that approximately 50% of working families rely on child care providers to help them care for their children while they work; 25% rely on relatives for child care; and nearly 25% arrange work schedules so that no child care is needed (e.g. parents work different hours or days; one parent works during school hours and is home after school).

• WOYC Activities Suggestions

Employer Handbook

The Employer Options Book is an 83-page booklet (please be patient for download) that will help you make an informed choice of a child care strategy that fits your business and is responsive to the needs of your employees. This handbook provides step-by-step information on the process of conducting employee needs accessements, chosing options that will be supportive of the needs of your workforce, and effectively implementing programs that will impact the overall productivity and profitablitiy of your company.

• The Employer Options Handbook