Living: The Child-Care Dilemma

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Because such state programs are the exception, a number of political leaders and lobbying groups are calling for federal intervention. This summer a coalition of 64 groups -- including the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the Child Welfare League of America -- will propose a comprehensive national child-care bill, which will probably call for increased support to help low- and moderate-income families pay for child care. Legislation has already been introduced in both houses of Congress to create a national parental-leave policy.

In an era of towering federal deficits, much of the future initiative will have to come from the private sector. By the year 2000, women will make up half the work force. Says Labor Secretary Bill Brock: "We still act as though workers have no families. Labor and management haven't faced that adequately, or at all."

A few companies are in the forefront. Merck & Co., a large pharmaceutical concern based in Rahway, N.J., invested $100,000 seven years ago to establish a day-care center in a church less than two miles from its headquarters. Parents pay $550 a month for infants and $385 for toddlers. Many spend lunch hours with their children. "I can be there in four minutes," says Steven Klimczak, a Merck corporate-finance executive whose three-year-old daughter attends the center. "It's very reliable, and that's important in terms of getting your job done."

Elsewhere in the country, companies have banded together to share the costs of providing day-care services to employees. A space in Rich's department store in downtown Atlanta serves the children of not only its own employees but also of workers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the First National Bank of Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspapers.

Businesses that have made the investment in child care say it pays off handsomely by reducing turnover and absenteeism. A large survey has shown that parents lose on average eight days a year from work because of child-care problems and nearly 40% consider quitting. Studies at Merck suggest that the company also saves on sick leave due to stress-related illness. "We have got an awful lot of comments from managers about lessened stress and less unexpected leave time," says Spokesman Art Strohmer. At Stride Rite Corp., a 16-year-old, on-site day-care center in Boston and a newer one at the Cambridge headquarters have engendered unusual company loyalty and low turnover. "People want to work here, and child care seems to be a catalyst," says Stride Rite Chairman Arnold Hiatt. "To me it is as natural as having a clean-air policy or a medical benefit."

The generation of workers graduating from college today may find themselves in a better position. They belong to the "baby-bust" generation, and their small numbers, says Harvard Economist David Bloom, will force employers to be creative in searching for labor. Child-care arrangements, he says, will be the "fringe benefits of the 1990s." The economics of the situation, if nothing else, will provoke a change in the attitude of business, just as the politics of the situation is changing the attitude of government. In order to attract the necessary women -- and men -- employers are going to have to help them find ways to cope more easily with their duties as parents.

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