
DATE: Saturday, September 6, 1997           TAG: 9709060317

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: 1D   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  110 lines

A BALANCING ACT USAA EMPLOYEES' NEWEST BENEFIT: "PEACE OF MIND," COMPANY OFFICIAL SAYS

Four-year-old Kenny Cordero likes his new child-care center for several reasons: the shiny new tricycles, the winding playground sidewalks, the pal who's riding with him.

His mother, Annette Cordero, has another reason to like it. The center is on the same site as her job as an insurance specialist at USAA. She can drop by to see Kenny during work breaks and have lunch with him.

``Everyone is thrilled,'' Annette Cordero said as she watched her son speed around her. ``We've been asking for something like this for a long time.''

USAA opened a state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot, child-care center Tuesday at the company's mid-Atlantic office on Northhampton Boulevard. It can care for up to 130 children of employees. USAA, or United Services Automobile Association, employs 867 people at the regional office.

The center was set up by CorporateFamily Solutions, a Nashville, Tenn.-based, company that works with companies to help employees balance family and work.

CorporateFamily Solutions has operated 100 centers for companies across the country - many of them Fortune 500 companies - and also developed other family-friendly services such as dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off services for employees, dinners to go, programs for school-age children and back-up care for parents whose child-care arrangements go awry.

The USAA child-care facility - which is called a child-development center because it also has resources for families - is phasing in enrollment of the children, starting with 25 the first week and building up to 53 by the end of next month. The director, Charlese Dease, projects enrollment to be full within a year.

Parents are happy, not just because they can look out their window to see their children on the playground, but because of the level of care offered at the center.

The center meets state requirements and more stringent standards established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. It also has innovative features such as faucets with sensors so teachers can turn on the water without touching handles, special cabinets with hinges that can't catch a child's fingers and a sprinkler system installed on the playground for hot-weather fun.

Children first get a home visit from their care provider to make the first day go smoother. ``The visit helped ease the transition,'' said Annette Cordero. ``There was someone he knew when he got here.''

The USAA Child Development Center also has a resource room for parents and teachers to get ideas for activities, a lounge where parents can relax with their children before their day begins, and a special ``Almost Well'' room for up to six children who are recovering from illnesses.

The cost of the care is competitive with other child-care centers in the area, according to Dease.

CorporateFamily Solutions was founded in 1987 by Lamar Alexander, the former Tennesee governor who ran for president in 1996, Bob ``Captain Kangaroo'' Keeshan and Marguerite Salle, a businesswoman, to help companies establish work-family initiatives.

``What we do is work with companies to address employee needs,'' said Lynne Meservey, senior vice president for CorporateFamily Solutions. ``We can custom design programs to meet the needs of the employees and the company.'' For instance, CorporateFamily Solutions set up a child-care center at a Georgetown, Ky., Toyota plant that is open around the clock, so that shift employees would always have someone to care for their children.

The company began working with USAA in 1994. Since then, it has opened on-site child-care centers in five USAA locations - Sacramento, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; San Antonio, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and the new one in Norfolk.

``The peace of mind which comes from knowing that their children are close at hand and are being well cared for is a wonderful additional benefit for USAA employees,'' said Benjamin Hacker, senior vice president at the USAA mid-Atlantic regional office.

While the trend toward on-site child care has been slow locally, it has been a popular benefit with employees across the country.

A 1993 study by the Families & Work Institute in New York City found that 2,200 employers sponsored child-care centers, with the federal government leading the way, with 800 on- or near-site child-care centers.

Locally, Discovery Care, which is affiliated with Children's Hospital of The Kings' Daughters, has a facility near the hospital that serves hospital employees and others. Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University have on-site centers, but those are open to nonemployees as well.

Dease said family-work initiatives can help recruit employees, help keep them once they're with the company, and also keep employees more focused on work.

Lisa Gingco, who has a 20-month-old daughter at the USAA center, said she often worried about the child while she was in day care, because she has asthma. Now that she's nearer, Gingco feels more at ease. ``If she has an asthma attack, I can be here to deal with it,'' she said.

Meservey said that when CorporateFamily Solutions opens a center, they usually get calls from other companies interested in work-family initiatives. ``We hope to serve as a resource for the community,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Cheryl Robinson, right, a teacher at the day-care center at USAA's

Mid-Atlantic office on Northhampton Boulevard, tries to lure

Courtney Taylor, 3, out from behind her mom, Renee Taylor.

The center is designed to ease some of the parents' worries. With

the USAA office - shown in the background - so close, workers can

spend their lunch hours and breaks with their children.

Graphic

Day care for the future?

The center: As part of a nationwide program, a company has

opened an in-house child-care center that can support up to 130

children at its Norfolk office. The company hopes the center will