Why Employers Should Care about Child Care....Here are five good reasons:
- Your employees will be more productive and committed. If child care is a concern for your employees, sooner or later it's going to be your concern too. When employees are worrying about child care, missing work to stay home with children, or having to quit work because of child care problems, your bottom line will suffer due to lost productivity and the costs associated with employee turnover.
- The workforce is more diverse. More than half of all Oregon preschoolers have a single parent or two parents working. Women are entering the workforce sooner after the birth of a child, and they're staying longer. Employers who want to attract and keep the best workers are addressing the child care needs of the changing workforce.
- You want a tax break from the dependent care tax credit. Oregon employers who subsidize employees' child care expenses, contract with a child care resource and referral program for their workplace, or operate a child care center or child care consortium are eligible for a 50% tax credit for these costs.
- You care about the quality of life in your community. With so many children in child care, the quality of care is of concern to parents. It should concern employers, educators and policy makers too -- in short, all of us -- who care about the quality of life in our communities. Research shows that children -- especially of low-income families -- who are in high quality child care are more likely to form healthy relationships with adults and other children, be ready for school, and go on to be productive adults, than children who are in child care not considered to be of high quality.
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