Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994                   TAG: 9412060005
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHILD CARE: GOOD FOR BUSINESS

No surprise. It's always been a concern.

In generations past, many families were fortunate to have a grandmother or neighbor available to look after the kids. Today, grandmothers and neighbors are also in the paid work force.

What is surprising is that more employers, now more dependent than ever on women workers, haven't made more of an effort to address the problem. True, it can be costly to offer vouchers or subsidies for child care, to help arrange for day care, or to set up on-site or near-site child-care centers of their own. In many cases, it's not feasible or cost-effective. But many employers who have tried such an initiative have found it cost-effective.

Where they have helped relieve workers' child-care concerns, employers have discovered they get:

Increased productivity from employees who are less distracted by worries about their children. Lower absentee rates. Fewer stress-related health problems. Greater ability to retain good workers, reducing the costs associated with turnover. Greater competitive ability to attract good employees. And this is not to mention the potential effect on the quality of future generations of workers.

In the Roanoke Valley, businesses that have gone the extra mile to help workers meet child-care needs apparently have not regretted doing so. Such efforts include child-care centers offered to employees of hospitals and also by First Union.

In First Union's case, a day-care center for bank employees' pre-schoolers was part of the package when First Union acquired Dominion Bankshares in 1993. Dominion set up the child-care center eight years ago, winning national acclaim in doing so. (Working Women magazine named it one of the country's top 25 companies for working mothers.)

Commendably, First Union officials elected to continue the day-care program and even to improve and expand it. Now First Union is establishing a $50,000 scholarship fund for employees who need financial assistance with the center's fees.

Throughout the state, more such company-run programs would be helpful. So would more vouchers, referral services, family leave and flex-time. Sixty-five percent of Virginia's youngsters live in families where both parents or a single parent are in the labor force. (By the way, not all those single parents are women.)

In the Roanoke and New River valleys, as throughout Virginia, the number of slots available in licensed day-care centers falls far short of the number of children who need care. This ought to be of general concern, not just for employers. The entire community needs to catch up to the fact of women in the labor force and to the importance of early development for children. The business community, however, can help lead the way.

Not all employers are able to offer on-site child care, more flexible hours or child-care subsidies to help working parents. But more ought to consider doing so, and not only to do good. It also can be good for business.