Top Corporations Invest In Families

Several years ago, a professional woman we know felt exasperated by the indifference of employers to their workers’ child-care dilemmas.

“Maybe they don’t want to deal with it because they are embarrassed that employees are having the sex that creates those children,” she said.

Her off-beat reason made as much sense as any other excuse she’d heard for why companies ignored child-care issues. But this week there was great news. Twenty-one of the nation’s largest companies announced their participation in a $100 million, six-year effort to improve child and elder care for their employees. The effort is called the American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care.

American Express Co., IBM, Mobil Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Aetna Life & Casualty are just a few of those companies. They are supporting more than 1,000 projects in 31 states that help employees juggle the demands of work with the demands of care for their loved ones. Not only their children, but their elderly parents as well. Projects include summer camps, after-school care programs and on-site day-care centers.

The companies will be in partnership with their employees in solving family-care dilemmas. The programs stress collaboration because family care is not, nor should it be, the primary responsibility of employers. For instance, day-care centers opening in company buildings must be financially self-sufficient after the initial investment and run by independent operators. Employees pay for the care, but some companies will subsidize the cost.

The corporations are participating because it makes good business sense. It costs plenty to train valuable employees; family-friendly workplaces keep good people from jumping to another company. And employees preoccupied with family problems are distracted on the job and at risk for stress-related illnesses.

The workplace of the 1950s, when only 12 percent of women with young children worked outside the home, is gone forever. Employers who pretend that nothing has changed at home for their employees won’t thrive in the 21st Century, when two-thirds of new workers are expected to be women and 75 percent of those women will become pregnant during their working years. It is also estimated that 40 percent of the nation’s workers will be responsible for their aging parents in coming years.

In this era of downsizing and lack of corporate loyalty, it is heartening to read that these 21 companies are making this kind of commitment. Perhaps they will set an example for smaller businesses.

So show your appreciation. Next time you pay a bill to one of these companies, attach a note. “Dear Exxon: Here’s my monthly payment. Thanks for helping your employees with family care. Sincerely, a satisfied customer.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board