Build a Stable Labor Force and Create a Family-Friendly Environment

Your employees are juggling a lot, leading multifaceted lives. Working parents can face a tremendous amount of stress seeking childcare. In order to allow your employees the freedom to focus on their work while they’re at work, they need to know their children are in safe and quality care.

Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is striving to be a partner in helping families make an informed child care decision through instituting the Quality Rated System. This new program operates similar to rating systems for hotels and restaurants and assigns a one, two or three star rating to child care providers that meet or exceed minimum state requirements.

Knowing they are choosing a Quality Rated provider, parents can have confidence that the program is following best practices and that their child is receiving excellent care. The search tool on DECAL’s website is an easy resource for parents to find Quality Rated programs.

Research indicates that employers that offer flexible work environments are able to attract, motivate and retain employees, improve employee satisfaction and strengthen productivity.

Implement Polices to Motivate and Retain Employees:

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) released a study in 2012 that found more businesses today are providing employees with flexible options in the workplace. The study surveyed 1,126 employers – 53 percent were small organizations with 50-99 employees, 9 percent were large organizations with 1,000 or more employees. The 2012 National Study of Employers (NSE) found the following:

  • Flex-time: offered by 77 percent of workplaces, up from 66 percent in 2005.
  • Flex place/telecommuting: offered by 63 percent of workplaces, up from 34 percent in 2005.
  • Choices in managing time: offered by 93 percent of workplaces, up from 78 percent in 2005.
  • Daily time off when important needs arise: offered by 87 percent of workplaces, up from 77 percent in 2005.
  • Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs) that help employees deal with problems and pressures are on the rise – offered by 74 percent of workplaces, up from 46 percent in 2005.
  • Employee wellness programs are also on the rise – offered by 63 percent of workplaces, up from 47 percent in 2005.
  • An increasing number of employers are providing women with private spaces for breastfeeding – offered by 79 percent of workplaces, up from 71 percent in 2005.

Workplace flexibility is about rethinking how, when & where people do their best work to promote work & family balance and happy, healthy, families.  See SHRM’s 10 Strategy Checklist to help you implement flex policies.

Be a Resource for Your Employees:        

  • Refer working parents to Quality Care for Children for assistance in looking for child care. Call 1-877-ALL-GA-KIDS or visit allgakids.org to conduct an online search.
  • Post signs or flyers with links to Quality Care for Children’s information where employees regularly gather, such as the copy machine or break room.
  • Connect employees to QualityRated.org to find Quality Rated centers in your area.
  • Provide a flyer about Quality Rated and Quality Care for Children in new hire packets.
  • Connect relocating employees with Quality Care for Children.
  • Contract with Quality Care for Children for enhanced referrals.
    • There is a federal tax credit for businesses that contract with Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies to assist their employees with finding child care. Employers can receive a tax credit of up to 10 percent of expenses for CCR&R services.
  • For more information about the above tax incentives for child care, read our employer tax incentive summary.

Get Recognized:

Organizations interested in showcasing their flexibility strategies, in benchmarking with other organizations, or learning more about work flex should apply for the prestigious ‘When Work Works’ award, sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Families and Work Institute (FWI).