Introduction
It is important pay attention to the fact that many people experience problems while balancing their opportunities for child care and job performance.
Therefore, the problem is in the fact that in such large states as Texas, employees have to spend much time commuting to and from childcare sites and workplaces.
In this context, it is important to propose the establishment of onsite childcare services for employees with children to address the problems associated with the employees’ stress and absenteeism.
The purpose of this justification report is to present the discussion of two alternative onsite childcare programs that can be implemented in organizations to address the identified problem and to recommend the most appropriate alternative.
Overview of Alternatives
The first alternative is the Onsite Childcare for Little Children and the second alternative is Onsite Before and After School Childcare. The first alternative can become available for full-time employees who have children aged between 6 weeks and 5 years. The facility would be available only during the working hours.
The before and after school onsite childcare is an alternative for working parents with school aged children. The program guarantees that the employees’ children can go to and from school safely during the period their parents work.
Criteria and Methods
The five criteria that are used to evaluate the feasibility of each alternative are:
- Selection with the focus on how employees are selected for this program.
- Desirability with the focus on how employees can benefit from this program.
- Cost with the focus on how much employees are expected to pay for the care.
- Company Benefits or Perks with the focus on how the company can benefit from the program.
- Development with the focus on how long the development of the program can last.
- The research methods include conducting a survey to see how many employees are interested in the programs and the review of the programs implemented in different companies to explore the outcomes and benefits for employees who use the program.
Evaluation of Alternatives
For the Selection criterion and the first alternative, the selection depends on choosing working parents who have already received the maternity leaves, but who want to continue working in the company. However, onsite childcare is not provided in many firms currently, and the procedure of selection is not developed effectively (Feierabend & Staffelbach, 2015, p. 2). For the second alternative, employees can be selected for childcare programs while applying to the HRM department. They have the right to decide independently on the necessity of the proposed services and options.
For the Desirability criterion and the first alternative, the level of the employees’ retention grows proportionally to the desire to participate in the program. For the second alternative, working parents receive an opportunity to focus completely on their duties during the working hours, without compromising the work-and-life balance.
For the Cost criterion and the first alternative, employees can pay the percentage from their salaries. For the second alternative, services are expected to be provided for free (Payne et al., 2011, p. 227).
For the Company Benefits criterion and the first alternative, the level of absenteeism can decrease significantly as well as the percentage of the turnover. For the second alternative, improvement of the onsite childcare leads to increasing employees’ job satisfaction and productivity.
For the Development criterion and the first alternative, the development can be expensive and require much time. For the second alternative, the development process can take several months.
Findings and Analysis
The procedure of selection for the first alternative is undeveloped because there are few companies that follow this approach to providing the onsite childcare. High levels of employees’ commitment and desire to participate in the childcare programs are associated with the implementation of both alternatives. Regarding the costs, the first variant is less attractive for employees than the second one. In both cases, the benefits for the company are high because of decreased absenteeism and increased productivity, but the barriers to the effective development are also high.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Both proposed alternatives are characterized by benefits for the company and its employees. Thus, the parents will have time to concentrate on their jobs and their productivity will increase. Furthermore, the levels of absenteeism and stress will decrease. However, the first alternative is more problematic to be implemented in organizations because of its costs. Referring to the analysis, it is possible to state that implementation of the second alternative can be discussed as the more reasonable choice for organizations.
References
Feierabend, A., & Staffelbach, B. (2015). Crowding out reciprocity between working parents and companies with corporate childcare. Human Resource Management, 12(1), 1-10.
Payne, S., Cook, A., & Diaz, I. (2011). Understanding childcare satisfaction and its effect on workplace outcomes: The convenience factor and the mediating role of work-family conflict. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 85(2), 225–244.