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The purpose of this study was to extend research findings on perceived equity into the context of the contingent workforce by examining employees' perceived fairness of a child-care subsidy (i.e., distributive justice perception) in a temporary employment agency. The variables of interest to the study were perceived fairness, comparison other, input importance, organizational responsibility and family-friendliness. The variables were examined on three levels of subsidy status (i.e., subsidy group, parents/no-subsidy group, and nonparents group). A cover letter and a questionnaire regarding perceived fairness of the child-care subsidy were mailed to all employees who had worked for the temporary agency in the last three years. In addition, a stamped self addressed envelope was attached, so respondents could mail the questionnaire directly to the researcher within 2 weeks. Respondents were instructed to anonymously answer the entire questionnaire, and to indicate the degree of their agreement or disagreement with respect to each of the statements in the questionnaire. Findings are based on 64 survey responses, which represented a return rate of 9.5%. The data were analyzed using separate analyses of variance and regression analyses. Results indicated significant differences among parents with subsidy, parents without subsidy and non-parents on their perceived importance of inputs such as level of education, hours per week and "other'' inputs (i.e., client satisfaction and work environment). Specifically, parents without subsidy perceived the level of education and the number of hours worked per week as more important inputs than did either the non-parents and the parents with subsidy. However, non-parents perceived the level of education and the number of hours worked per week as more important inputs than did the parents with subsidy. Furthermore, non-parents and parents without the subsidy perceived "other'' inputs as more important input than did the parents with subsidy. Significant differences were also found between the subsidy group and no-subsidy group and perceived fairness. Specifically, the subsidy group perceived the child care subsidy as more fair than the no-subsidy group (i.e., parents without subsidy and non-parents). A significant interaction of the effect of family-friendliness on the relationship between subsidy status and perceived fairness was also found.

This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of a multi-media presentation relating to the topic of employer-supported child care in British Columbia in the business community. Changes in the knowledge and attitude of employers, as measured by a questionaire, were the determinants of the effectiveness of the presentation. Personnel officers from the public and private sector were selected for the study subjects. Support for this study was obtained from a professional association of personnel officers, which offered to host an educational seminar on this topic. This seminar is the treatment of the study and the members of the association who elected to attend this seminar are the subjects. This study was part of a larger study that was a joint research project between the University of British Columbia and Douglas College. Each institution supplied a principal investigator, project personnel and institutional resources. The author of this thesis was the project researcher. Funding for the project was received from the Child Care Initiatives Fund, Health and Welfare Canada. A section of the larger project's findings were extracted for this study. The field of employer-supported child care is relatively recent in Canada. Since 1964 when the Riverdale Hospital opened a child care facility in Toronto, there have been just over one hundred such employer-supported child care facilities set up. Many other companies have set up company-assisted child care options that also fall within the term "employer-supported child care," but no one to date has catalogued the total number of such initiatives. In British Columbia there have been four known employer-supported child care centres; one is no longer in existence. There has been considerable interest and activity in the provincial business community since this study began in 1988. However, other than M. Mayfield's survey of employer involvement in child care in British Columbia in 1984, no research studies have been conducted on this topic. No other known studies are currently taking place, although the Child Care Initiatives Fund, Health and Welfare Canada does list several demonstration projects currently underway across Canada. This study, then, is to develop an effective multi-media presentation relating to employer-supported child care that would educate and influence employers to consider involvement in the child care needs of their employees from an economic perspective. Measurement of knowledge and attitude toward the topic would be taken to determine the effectiveness of this presentation. Results showed that the presentation was effective. Whereas before the seminar 2.5% of the respondents reported their company's level of involvement in child care at the "developing an option" stage, by the conclusion of the seminar, 32.5% of the respondents reported interest at the same level. Responses showed that the perceived obstacles of "lack of evidence of child care services providing long term benefits to the company", "corporate liability", and "equity" were significantly reduced. Employers acquired knowledge about the topic through the seminar. Perceived obstacles were overcome. The respondents were motivated to become involved in employer-supported child care. A need for future studies has been identified from the interpretation of the research results and it is hoped that issues raised from this study will form future research questions. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Little Office (TLO) is a proposed start-up that will enter the childcare industry as a provider of on-site day-care at office parks. The unique service offering that TLO will propose to the market is on-site day-care which will not only serve the employers in question, but also their employees. TLO offers organisations the opportunity to address employee productivity related to childcare, as well as to attract and retain skills, while being able to outsource the actual day-care function, which is unrelated to their core business. The service offering to the children and their parents will include a focus on educational, social, physical and emotional development. Market trend analysis indicates an increase in demand for day-care. Combined with the fact that companies are ramping up efforts to attract and retain employees, this results in a situation where the market size and market trends indicate significant opportunities for TLO. Competition is present but due to the size of the market and the core differences in the business model presented by TLO the threat of competition is not fierce. The strategy has been developed around the market analysis and by taking into account the opportunities and threats that exist for TLO. TLO’s strategy therefore serves to differentiate it from the rest of the market in terms of location of centres as well as primary target customers. Coupled with the research evidence of positive outcomes on employee performance, this suggests the concept will be welcomed by new economy organisations. The marketing strategy will aim at large businesses, office parks and government institutions. TLO will present custom feasibility studies to identified customers to establish whether the business is feasible in terms of space, number of employees with children in the organisation, requirements by parents etc. TLO’s strategy is to develop not only core service offerings but also distinctive competencies such as a lower child to carer ratio and high quality, cutting edge and innovative childcare. The various branches of TLO will be run by a central administrative hub, where most of the costs will initially be incurred. This centralised office will be run by the owner and would require administrative and qualified social worker staff. Each branch will require qualified educational staff in line with the number of children per branch. Due to the regulatory requirements inherent in the childcare industry, TLO will base their business operations around achieving compliance excellence in their business. In addition, a continuous evaluation of childcare sciences and re-evaluation of TLO’s service offering will ensure that the latest developments in childcare are addressed and thus TLO remains competitive and progressive. The business model is low risk and provides positive operating cash flow from year three. Through partnering with labour brokers and the use of intelligent placement strategies, TLO will ensure that they have the correct staff in the correct place. Combined with continual audits of performance, TLO will turn the human resources risk into a competitive advantage. The main objectives for the first three years of operation are:  To open four branches averaging 20 children per branch within the first year;  To increase the number of clients served by 100% in Year 2 and again in Year 3; and  To develop a sustainable, profitable, start-up business.

On-site childcare is an ever-increasing form of childcare. By understanding the decisions, experiences and feelings of mothers using on-site centers, informed policy decisions about viable childcare models can be made. In the broadest terms current literature reveals that economic, societal, functional, and psychological factors influence a mother's decisions in regards to using childcare. This study used these markers as the basis for the development of questions to ascertain the experiences, feelings and decisions of mothers using on-site childcare. A phenomenological method was used. Twenty-four participants using on-site childcare from four organizations in different industries were located through a snowball sample for in-depth interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded to derive themes of experiences. The findings reveal that on-site childcare impacts previously described effects of childcare. The factors of primary influence are child proximity and organizational support. The influence of close proximity can be seen in the themes of Networking, Organizational System Oneness, Family/Community Perception, Mothering Style, Center Quality, Work Time, Commuting Time, Nursing/Lactation, Guilt, Stress Management, and Employee Loyalty. Organizational assistance and support impact and overlap with proximity as a primary theme source. This can be seen in the themes of Cost, Networking, Organizational System Oneness, Waiting List, Center Quality, Work Time, Commuting Time, Nursing/Lactation, Stress Management and Employee Loyalty. The quality of the childcare, which in large part is made possible by the supporting organization, is held in such high regard that in some cases it overcomes the mother's desire for proximity. The implications of these findings are that high quality on-site childcare provides a significant benefit for mothers, organizations and communities. Family friendly organizational policy and feminist urban planning methods are better informed.

Corporate leaders at Dominion Bankshares Corporation established an on-site child care facility at its operations center for its Roanoke, Virginia employees. The immediate supervisors of parents of children enrolled in the Dominion Child Development Center were surveyed to determine the factors they believed affected worker productivity and their perceptions of how employees' work habits had changed as a result of the opening of the child care center. A description of the demographic characteristics of persons who supervise employees who use Dominion Bank's Child Development Center is included. The supervisors of persons using the on-site child care center were primarily white males from 36 to 45 years old with ten or fewer years experience with the corporation. These supervisors perceived that employee productivity is mostly affected by employee morale, emotional stress level, and absenteeism. Supervisors believed that employee morale, productivity, and absenteeism related to child care improved after the opening of the Dominion Child Development Center. Some corporate leaders call the lack of affordable, licensed child care an economic problem for our society. Many supervisors are not aware that their employees' child care dilemmas affect job performance. Inservice training could provide educational opportunities to improve attitudes and increase awareness. / Master of Science

No description available.

The purpose of this paper is to present a study that examines the underlying stucture of work/family conflict. Research has shown that reducing work/family conflict is beneficial to both employees and the organization by reducing turnover and increasing satisfction, production and commitment to the organization.

The goal of this study was to provide a link between the family-supportive benefits offered by an employer, and the work-family conflict experienced by that organization's employees. In order for employee outcomes such as job satisfaction to remain high, the work-family conflict experienced by the employee needs to remain low. One way to possibly lower the amount of work-family conflict experienced is to offer family-supportive benefits.

In this study an ecosystemic and social constructionist approach is used to understand the meanings and perceptions held by working mothers in relation to their experiences with the childcare and organisation settings. These meanings are described in terms of the influence of wider social discourses, personal epistemological assumptions, tacit knowledge, past experiences and current contexts. The working mothers, together with the researcher, form a linguistic system in which meanings about motherhood, employer-support and childcare arrangements are co-constructed and shared. The relationships between the working mothers and the researcher are not only observed within a linguistic context, but also within the ecosystemic view of mutual reciprocity, self-referentiality and double description. A qualitative and naturalistic research methodology is followed to describe the emergent design and the grounded theory. Based on the qualitative paradigm, the conclusions drawn at the end of the study are idiographic and reflective. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)