Study Released During DVCCC/Wharton Impact Conference Indicates Companies Are Increasing Family-Friendly Policies.

Business Editors

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000

More companies are offering family-friendly policies and programs to help working parents meet the needs of caring for their young children, according to a survey released last week.

"Leading companies are taking the initiative to work toward a world in which parents do not have to choose between their careers and their families" according to the survey, "Private Sector Initiatives on Caring for the Young Children of Working Parents."

The survey of 34 large and small companies, released last week at the Wharton Impact Conference, "Caring for the Young Children of Working Parents: A Call for Private and Public Sector Leadership," indicated several trends:

-- 66 % of companies surveyed offered flexible work arrangement

-- 38 % offered maternity/paternity/adoption leave with some replacement pay

-- 71 % offered some sort of child care assistance

-- 100 % of respondents said they were most proud of the work-life integration
benefits provided to their employees.

"We wanted to look at what lies behind what companies have done and we wanted to look at what were the current trends," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute and co-author of the study. "Family friendliness has grown from a piecemeal collection of human resource benefits into a social movement by leading companies using a strategic comprehensive approach."

"It's no longer an issue of child care versus the parents. It's now child care and the parents," she added.

Sparking the corporate change in attitudes is the "war for talent," Galinsky said. "Employees want flexibility and respect for the diversity of their needs, and companies have figured out that meeting these needs is good for business."

According to the study major companies like Merrill Lynch are taking a comprehensive attitude towards family work-life issues. Merrill Lynch provides a back-up child care program, support efforts to accredit child care centers and family child care homes, and offers parent education, family leave, flexible work arrangements, and a campaign for women's achievement.

"Companies are developing tools to help employees manage these issues," Galinsky said. "People are actually showing a real respect for employees and what they are doing."

Changes in how business gets done due to new technology are also motivating many of the changes.

"Space and time are no longer the same kind of constraints they once were," said Stewart Friedman, co-author of the study and director of the Ford Motor Company Leadership Development Center and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project at the Wharton School. "The traditional boundaries between work and life are becoming more permeable. This can help parents to provide more of the care themselves rather than surrogates."

The survey was positively received by many of the participants at the conference.

"About 70 percent of mothers with children are in the workforce," said Dr. Thomas Langfitt, senior fellow at the Wharton School. "And all of them need help in the nurturing of their children, and help in the care of their children when they are at work."

"I think the most extraordinary aspect of this paper is the recognition of the changes in work trends."

For more information or for a copy of the study or the conference proceeding contacts the Delaware Valley Child Care Council at 215/922-7526.

The Delaware Valley Child Care Council was formed in 1985 to provide a problem-solving forum for child care issues in the five county Southeastern region. DVCCC is a non-profit organization composed of parents, business and government leaders, union representatives, and child care professionals. We serve the five counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia.