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Companies Can Reap Large Returns by Offering Employees Off Hours Child Care Assistance8/12/03
LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug 12, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Companies with extended hours operations can achieve significant reductions in costs due to employee absenteeism, turnover and overtime by providing child care assistance to employees working outside the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to a new study published today by Circadian Technologies, Inc. Yet less than 1 percent of U.S. companies provide child care assistance to extended hours employees, the study found.
Difficulties securing child care are major contributors to the high rates of absenteeism, turnover and, as a consequence, overtime costs at companies with extended hours operations. Circadian's study, Cost Benefits of Child Care for Extended Hours Operations, found that 7.4 million, or 31 percent of America's 24 million extended hours workers -- nearly half of whom are in white-collar or service occupations -- have children under age 18. Approximately 28 percent of American women regularly work nights, evenings or weekends; 3.5 million extended hours workers are mothers with children under 18.
Highlights from the analysis include:Child care benefits offer major opportunity to curb related costs
-- Costs associated with absenteeism in extended hours operationsdecreased by $300 annually per employee if some form of extended hourschild care was available. Various studies find that providing extendedhours childcare can reduce the absenteeism rate by an average of 20percent.
-- Turnover rates among extended hour employees decreased to 7.7 percentfrom 9.3 percent when extended hours child care services wereavailable, due in part to improved employee loyalty and morale. Giventhe $25,000 average cost of recruiting and training each new extendedhour employee, this represents a savings opportunity.
-- Overtime at extended hours operations decreased by a third (from 12 to8 percent) when extended hours child care was available in the vicinityof the workplace -- presumably due to a lower need for co-workers tocover for absences due to another employee's child care problems.
-- In a hypothetical example, a facility with 1,000 workers achieved a 22percent return on investment three years after opening an on-site childcare center. After five years the estimated return rose to 100percent.
Child care benefits seldom available to extended hours workers
-- Among U.S. facilities with extended hours operations, less than 1percent provide extended hours child care facilities either on site ornearby.
-- Eleven percent of daytime operations sponsor child care facilities,while another 20 percent offer resource and referral services.
'Parents working extended hours shifts -- particularly those who are divorced or single -- must often cobble together a patchwork of care takers, relying alternately on a spouse or partner, relatives, child care providers, neighbors or friends,'said Publications Editor Jennifer Allen, the study author. 'Parents must often move children between babysitters from week to week to avoid burdening a friend or relative. Not only does such unpredictability upset children's need for routine, but these parents are more likely to experience a breakdown in child care that forces them to miss work.
'Child care benefits on site or locally will likely produce even better results for companies with 24/7 operations,'Allen said. 'Companies running extended hours have higher absenteeism and turnover to begin with, so a child care benefit may reduce those costly problems more dramatically.'She added that as the economy improves and competition stiffens for employees, companies with child care benefits will have an edge recruiting and retaining new and highly skilled extended hours employees.
Circadian's findings are based on a comprehensive review of existing literature and the firm's annual survey, which encompasses data from 10,500 extended hours employees in 60 companies and managers at more than 1,000 companies representing approximately 150,000 employees across all major industry sectors. Circadian's 2003 Shiftwork Practices Survey found that absenteeism for extended hours employees averaged 4.9 percent versus 2.1 percent for the general working population. Turnover for extended hours workers was 9.3 percent versus 3.4 percent for all U.S. workers.
An executive summary of Cost Benefits of Child Care for Extended Hours Operations may be obtained by contacting Circadian Director of Marketing & Publications David E. Mitchell at 781-676-6900 or dmitchell@circadian.com.
About Circadian Technologies, Inc.
Circadian is the leading international research and consulting firm assisting companies with extended hours operations to improve profits by increasing productivity and reducing the increased costs, risks, and liabilities of human factors. Circadian's mission is to empower its clients to effectively use extended operations to compete in the global 24/7 economy. Extended hours operations encompass all work environments with irregular schedules, night and evening shifts, or extended hours, typically outside the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Since its incorporation by Dr. Martin Moore-Ede in 1983, more than half the Fortune 1000 has benefited by working with Circadian. For more information, visit www.circadian.com.
Contact: David Mitchell (781) 676-6905 dmitchell@circadian.com Mary Conway (617) 244-9682 mtconway@att.net
SOURCE Circadian Technologies, Inc.
David Mitchell, +1-781-676-6905, dmitchell@circadian.com, or Mary Conway, +1-617-244-9682, mtconway@att.net
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