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Background
In 1987, the Texas Legislature created the Child Care Information Clearinghouse at the Texas Employment Commission, to provide information to employers on child care. This issue was becoming more important to employers and workers alike as more women were entering the workforce. Noting this trend, the legislature wanted a state entity to collect and disseminate up-to-date, reliable information on child care to employers.. The Clearinghouse was guided by a private sector advisory committee of employers, a labor representative and a service provider representative.
By 1995, the Legislature recognized broader dependent care issues which were impacting the workforce. Eldercare had become a major news focus, and the term "sandwich generation" was coined for families caring for young children as well as elderly parents. In addition, care for disabled dependents was a major source of stress for working families if they could not find dependable caregiving arrangements. In response to these issues, the legislature expanded the scope of the Clearinghouse and changed its name to the Work & Family Clearinghouse. In its expanded role, the Clearinghouse was to collect and disseminate information and data on dependent care issues and their impact on the workforce. The legislature also provided funds for "dependent care demonstration projects" to recruit employers on a community level to promote family-friendly practices.
The Work & Family Clearinghouse was included in a major reorganization of state worker training programs and joined the Texas Workforce Commission in 1996.
Options for Dependent Care Assistance
Employers have reported a range of benefits for providing dependent care assistance programs including reduced absenteeism, improved employee morale, an increase in employee commitment to company goals and an improved ability to recruit and retain the most skilled workers. The impact of these programs can be a positive return-on-investment for business.
Employers may consider an array of dependent care options, and these should be carefully considered for a good fit with organizational resources and the needs of each workforce. A chart pdf. illustrates some of these options and their applications. Employee needs assessment surveys (Examples: 1 and 2 and 3) pdf are considered to be a good tool and a point of departure for targeting services to employee needs.
Among the best options for small business may be dependent care tax programs for employees. These include the IRS's Earned Income Tax Credit, and an employer-designed Dependent Care Spending Account pdf. Whether the employer is providing information and assistance on obtaining the IRS-sponsored tax credit or setting up an in-house dependent spending account, the result is the same: employees will save money on dependent care costs, with little direct cost to the employer. Dependent care spending accounts also allow the employer to save on federal FICA tax.
On-site child care is sponsored by an employer on-site or sometimes near the worksite. Care in these situations may be partially or fully paid by the employer, but often parents pay the full cost for care.
Working parents are often faced with finding new child care arrangements when they move or their child care provider closes their business. Workers with elderly parents may suddenly need to find new living arrangements for their parents because of illness or a decreasing capacity to for parents to care for themselves. These stressful, emotional situations take time to resolve, as parents search for suitable caretakers. Often, in the case of eldercare, the search must be conducted long distance or require an extended leave from work to travel to a distant place where the parent lives.
Assistance with child care can take the form of vouchers with child care
providers. Vouchers pay all or a portion of the costs for child care directly
to a provider. These child care providers designate a certain number of
spaces for employer-sponsored families.
Flextime
Flextime or flexible working hours provide employees with time during the day to take care of dependent care responsibilities while they still put in a full day's work. Although this option may not be a good fit for some employers, it does work for many. Job-sharing arrangements have also proven successful for some businesses. Two employees usually share responsibility for a job, each working part-time. This arrangement can ease the return-to-work transition for new parents or employees who have had to assume major responsibility for a sick or elderly dependent.
Resource and Referral Information
Resource and referral information services help employees to find the resources they need to conduct a search for dependent care. These services can often link employees with dependent care specialists throughout the country, and can conduct a search for vacancies in facilities, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. Once a decision has been made, the resource and referral services also offer follow-up help if the first choices for care don't work out. Many employers prefer to offer this benefit because it gives employees the information they need to make an informed decision.
A wide range of social services can be accessed through the 2-1-1 Help in Texas, which represents a statewide network of Information and Referral Agencies, state agencies and related organizations.
Employers may provide eldercare assistance by offering to pay part of long-term care insurance for dependents, or they may offer partial financial support for the costs of nursing home or assisted-living arrangements.
Child care providers play a pivotal role in helping working parents to stay on the job and be productive. TWC provides an educational and career-development tool for child care providers in the Texas Child Care Quarterly. TWC provides this quarterly magazine free to every licensed and registered child care provider in the state. This quarterly publication contains curriculum suggestions, child development articles, and a special tear-out "Parent News" fact sheet which providers can distribute to their parent-customers. Study and tests relating to the information in the magazine can be used by providers as credit towards a 15-hour annual requirement for ongoing training. TWC also provides business information and advice to help child care providers manage important aspects of their business.