Supportive bosses make for happy families

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Robert Inglis

August 7, 2009

Experts say workers are better when youngsters' needs met

By Tricia Pursell The Daily Item Fri Aug 07, 2009, 05:24 PM EDT

To get to his former law office in Maryland, Charlie Ross, of Selinsgrove, had to walk through an early childcare development center.

And so he is well aware, he jokes, of the importance for workplaces to be supportive of employees with children.

“I believe in taking care of one’s employees,” he said. And that includes assisting them in the nurturing of their families.

Now, as the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, Ross works alongside businesses to make sure they are prepared with an appropriate human relations policy that includes childcare-related issues such as maternity care and making sure employees are able to provide quality childcare for their children.

However, it is important to note that not all businesses are the same when it comes to dealing with this employee issue.

“Different industries have different goals and different systems of getting to those goals,” Ross said.

Nonetheless, employers from varying industries across the state are increasingly changing their policies to recognize the needs of employees with children.

“There’s a new spirit in the factory, the bank or wherever they happen to be,” said Dr. Jim Van Horn, graduate faculty member at Pennsylvania State University and director of the Penn State Better Kid Care Program. There are more workplaces today who are changing their policies to meet this need.

“There are more today than there were 20 years ago, maybe even 10,” he said, adding that such a change only enhances the business’s bottom line.

“An employer who supports a younger parent with children cuts down tremendously on absenteeism, tardiness and sick days,” he said. When there’s nobody to call to help a child who is in need of care, “It’s a terrible situation to be in,” he added. “That’s a real need.” Some employees fake being sick themselves in order to help their children, he said. “That shouldn’t be life.”

In addition, “Once a company gets the reputation of supporting the families of the people who work there, it’s a great recruiting tool,” Van Horn said. “Most small or medium-sized companies want to be a respected citizen in the community. That’s part of running a good business — you got to be a good citizen.”

“You don’t want to lose a good employee because they couldn’t go get their child who was sick at school,” agreed Dr. Christine L. Cooper, associate professor of human resource management at Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove.

“The good employees are always the most mobile,” she said. “The last thing you want is for them to go to their competitor.”

For part-time workers especially, she said, “The more they can accommodate them, the better.”

It’s a small price for employers to pay, said Lucien T. “Terry” Winegar, professor of psychology at Susquehanna University. “Employers need to recognize that being flexible is in fact to their benefit. Parents who can both do their job well and feel like they are taking care of their family are more loyal and productive employees.”

Unfortunately, the culture of the day often frowns on employees taking advantage of such benefits offered by their employers, according to Cooper.

“There is a little bit of backlash against employers who provide special practices for employees with kids,” she said. Other workers want to know why that employee’s outside life is more important than their outside life. “It does raise some questions about consistency and fairness,” she said. “It’s really a strongly mixed message.”

But the message isn’t mixed at all when it comes to how the child is affected by the presence or lack of such policies.

“In general, children are secure and successful when they know their parents are there when they need them,” Winegar said. “To the extent that moms and dads can be available when a child’s sick and needs to leave (school or day care) early, then the child feels they live in a reliable world, and that’s healthier than in an unreliable world.”

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