Workplace creche may help retain employees

Deciding whether to establish a workplace creche should be a simple equation for most employers. Can the cost be balanced by business benefits including a reduced attrition rate, staff satisfaction and more successful recruitment initiatives?

"Our creche is a key initiative of our recruitment and attrition strategy, especially when we are appointing from overseas," says Nicole Price, staff support services manager for the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Workplace creches impact on parents, too. "The creche is a very important part of my job satisfaction. It adds a level of value money can't buy," says Suzie Hood, a parent and group account manager for Television New Zealand.

Hood rattles off a list of benefits associated with using TVNZ's workplace creche: there are no stop-offs between home and work; if her son needs her in the course of the day the creche simply dials her extension; if he becomes ill she takes the lift to the fourth floor and picks him up; the children are often taken out and get top-notch care because the creche is small and the workplace is a family environment.

Hood says: "When I sit in my office I am happy because I know that my youngest is just upstairs. If you work for a family-friendly organisation, then you can have children and work."

The importance she places on a workplace creche would probably be echoed by many working parents - if they had the choice.

Sue Thorne, chief executive for the Early Childhood Council, says less than three per cent of the council's 800 early childhood centre members are workplace creche providers. Those that are include universities, hospitals and private employers such as Pumpkin Patch, Fletcher Building and TVNZ. She says New Zealand employers could do more.

"Employers need to ask 'what can I do to keep these parents working after they have children'?" says Thorne.

So why don't more employers offer a workplace creche? And what does the Government offer by way of encouragement?

There is Ministry of Education funding for all creches that become licensed - a legal requirement for creches with more than four children. Thorne says the level of this funding varies according to the type of creche, the number of children, their ages and the number of qualified early childhood education staff, but can be as high as 50 per cent of running costs.

Craig Morris, an human resources manager for TVNZ, says there's no way around the fact that running a creche is expensive.

"[Funding] and the fees paid by parents don't cover the costs. The requirements including compliance and curriculum are stringent and some employers would struggle to cope with that," says Morris.

Expense is the main reason small businesses don't run workplace creches. David Steele, whose Taupo chartered accounting firm DPA and Associates has 16 employees, chose to subsidise the cost of a full-time nanny service rather than offer a workplace creche.

As a result, he says employees who have taken maternity leave have returned to work and the talents of staff less constrained by childcare concerns and costs have been retained.

"We looked at a creche, but it just came at great cost. We haven't got the staff numbers to make it viable or the space," says Steele.

Gilbert Peterson, communications manager for the Employers and Manufacturers Association says while there is a role for Government in assisting employers to establish workplace creches, financial assistance alone is not necessarily ideal.

"A creche needs to be established for the long term and be part of an overall business culture. To have a blanket provision where any employer who starts a creche gets funding just invites abuse of the idea," says Peterson.

He suggests the Ministry of Education could better serve employers by minimising or removing compliance costs and providing advocacy to help employers understand what they need to know about setting up and running a workplace creche and hiring staff.

Supporting this, recent UMR research identified the main barriers to employers implementing work-life balance initiatives such as workplace creches as perceived cost, lack of time and resources and a lack of expertise.

Yet Thorne says anyone can set up a creche. "Lay people do it all the time, so employers should be able to do it. It's just about working through the regulations and in my opinion they are not particularly arduous."

There are alternatives to the traditional concept of an on-site creche staffed by trained teachers. TVNZ has parents rather than teachers managing and running its Avalon site creche; AUT outsource the workplace creche on its North Shore campus to another company; DPA and Associates offer a nanny service.

So is it what the parents want? Parents spoken to for this article say employers who offer creches are deserving of their loyalty.

Morris says whatever effort an employer makes to ease the childcare burden on working parents is likely to be worth their while.

"There are creative ways it can be done and we don't see any downsides. I would recommend employers give it a really good look. To lose valuable staff because there isn't any sort of help or facility is a real loss."

Workplace creche checklist

* What will you gain by offering your staff a workplace creche? Can you make a business case to offset the cost of establishing and running a creche?
* Do you have the right space? Does it meet the necessary environment regulations for a creche? Do you have the parenting staff numbers to make it viable?
* Can you attract a private creche provider to develop a creche at your workplace? If so, make contact with other organisations that have done this and find out what you need to consider.
* Does it make more sense for you to subsidise the early childhood centre closest to your workplace so that parents who work for you pay a lower rate for their children to attend that centre? If you have a very small team, can you pay part of the cost of a full-time nanny?
* If a workplace creche makes sense, contact supporting organisations such as the Early Childhood Council and the Ministry of Education. You can attend seminars on establishing a workplace creche where you will learn how to be compliant, how to set up and run a creche and how to hire and manage creche staff. Also make contact with workplaces that offer a creche. They will generally be happy to provide advice and feedback.