A new day care facility announced at Newell Rubbermaid on Thursday will help keep employees from fighting traffic to pick up their young children.
But the Sandy Springs consumer goods company also hopes it will be an effective tool to retain and recruit employees -- particularly women -- in highly sought-after positions.
"This is a hook," said Mike Rickheim, Newell Rubbermaid's vice president of global talent acquisition, engagement & inclusion. "Work-life balance is a huge piece."
While the 120-person facility, due to open in 2012, is geared toward mothers and fathers alike, Rickheim said mothers particularly are cognizant of the need for child care help. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mothers with older children are more likely to have jobs than those with younger children.
In 2009, the latest date for which there is data available, 78.2 percent of women with children between the ages of 6 and 17 were part of the labor force; for those with children under 6, it was 63.6 percent. About 7 percent of employers offer subsidized or unsubsidized child care, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
Aflac, Chick-fil-A, Georgia Power/Southern Co. and NCR are among the Georgia employers that offer the benefit. Home Depot announced in June that it was building its own on-site facility.
Rickheim said Newell Rubbermaid, with 1,100 Atlanta-area employees, had finally worked up the critical mass needed to support the center.
Executive Moms President Marisa Thalberg said the importance of such a benefit could not be overstated. "As a working parent, child care is kind of the linchpin," said Thalberg, whose group provides networking and peer support to working mothers. "If you have a problem with child care, none of it works."
Having it is beneficial to companies like Newell Rubbermaid, Rickheim said, as they hire more women and younger workers who have strong interests in both working and caring for a family. Rickheim said he is using it particularly to recruit for jobs in sales, marketing, and research and development.
"The thing we're making progress on is the message we're getting to female employees," Rickheim said. "We're recognizing them as people, not just as employees."
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