Employer-supported child care: Assessing the need and potential support

Abstract

Three hundred and fifty randomly-selected employees of a large state-supported university were surveyed about the effects of their own and others' child care problems on their work, and about their need for and willingness to support an on-site child care center. Almost half of the respondents reported that their work had been disrupted by child care problems of other employees. A high proportion of employees with children said their work had recently been disrupted by their own child care problems and that many of these disruptions could have been avoided had an on-site center been available. Men were as likely as women to be late, miss work, and leave work early to care for children. Employee support for on-site child care was strong, as indexed by widespread willingness, among all categories of employees, to make a financial contribution to a center. These data suggest that employers should not consider company-sponsored day care as a “special-interest” benefit.