Even as Opportunity 2000 celebrates five successful years, the scale of the task ahead looks daunting, but companies are increasingly recognising the benefits of caring for their staff who have caring responsibilities.
REACHING THE CEILING
Opportunity 2000, the campaign for a better balance between women and men in the workforce, is quoting remarkable success in achieving its objectives, based on independent research commissioned to mark its fifth anniversary in December. Membership is up from 62 in 1992 to over 300, with big increases in the proportion of members providing training to part-time staff, job-sharing and help with childcare during school holidays. On family care:
– 56% provide advice on child care, up from 24% in 1992;
– 22% provide a workplace nursery, up from 4%;
– 57% provide leave for care of an elderly or disabled family member, up from 34%.
Opportunity 2000 believes the trend will continue, partly due to underlying economic factors such as the shift away from traditional male-dominated blue-collar industries. Women are expected to form 65% of new employees by 2000. However breaking the glass ceiling remains problematic. Even in member companies, only 11% of directors at board room level are women. Contact Selina Coghlan, Colman Getty, on 0171 439 1783
NETWORKING WITH COMPANIES
The national charity, Kids’ Clubs Network, started a ?300 business membership scheme in January, offering information and discounted consultancy on childcare issues, with a bi-monthly newsletter and policy briefings. The charity represents 3,000 local kids’ clubs which provide 10,000 places. An estimated 800,000 children return from school to an empty house in Britain each day. Contact Mick Rich, Kids’ Clubs Network, on 0171 512 2112
ADVERTISING VOUCHERS
Parents of every four year old child were invited to apply during January for vouchers under the government’s new nursery education scheme which starts in April. Some 30,000 nursery providers are involved and the government has published a parents’ guide, Choosing what’s best for your child, along with a national TV advertising campaign. Contact DfEE Enquiries on 0171 925 5555
FUNDING FAIR PLAY
The government has extended funding for a further year for the Fair Play initiative which aims to lift the barriers facing women in economic and social life. Run with the Equal Opportunities Commission, consortia in ten regions of England involve the voluntary and private sectors in drawing up local action plans. After the 1997/98 year, the consortia will become independent of government funding. Contact DfEE Enquiries on 0171 925 5555
CHILDCARE PARTNERS
The national voluntary organisation, Working with Childcare, has received funding from the Department of Health to research how employers and local authorities have set up childcare partnerships. Councils have a duty under the Children Act to develop local facilities in consultation with interested partners. Contact Sue Finch, Working for Childcare, on 0171 700 0281
GROWING CHILD CARE
The food, drinks and leisure company, Whitbread, has become the largest operator of private children’s nurseries in the United Kingdom, following its purchase on January 8 of the Busy Bees business. Adding five sites to its existing 19, the company expects the pre-school care market, currently worth ?1.3 billion a year, to expand further. Over the last five years the number of private nurseries has doubled to around 5,000. Contact Lesly Hughes, Whitbread, on 0171 615 1059
HELP AT HAND
A new telephone service providing information, help and advice to employees on their family care responsibilities has been started by the LV Group. Offered as a benefit to staff by employers at an average cost of ?6 per head, the scheme is based on a computerised database of specialist care organisations and includes emergency care and counselling. LV Group quotes American research showing that for every 61 spent on a family-friendly service, organisations save between 65 and 67. It also says that on average one in twenty employees in the UK take a day’s sick leave each month to care for a dependent relative, costing more than ?50 million a year. Contact Lisa Buckingham, LV Group, on 0171 834 6666
REWARDING GOOD PRACTICE
The shares of companies with good family friendly employment policies have significantly outperformed the FTSE top 100 average over the last five years, according to ethical investment specialists, Albert E Sharp. Thirty eight of the top 100 companies responded to a survey covering policies on training, flexible hours, maternity/paternity leave, along with employment statistics at different grades and details on childcare services offered. The survey showed a trend towards improvements, with half the companies now providing some form of on- or off-site nursery provision. Contact Elizabeth Haigh, Albert E Sharp, on 0117 926 0051
UNEQUAL BRIEFING
The Equality Opportunities Commission has published the first in a new series of Briefings on Women and Men in Britain, with figures showing that it will take 45 years to achieve equal pay if present trends continue. For example, women part-timers earn only 58% pro-rata of male full-timers while female bank and building society managers earn 36% less. The EOC’s new Code of Practice on Equal Pay become law on March 28. For copies of the Briefing, contact Roger McKeown, EOC, on 0161 833 9244
Comment
Ownership. That’s the vital missing ingredient, says Opportunity 2000. Previously its ‘success model’ had four ingredients: commitment from the top, a willingness to challenge and change behaviour, good communications and resources to invest in the change process. Now fostering a sense of shared ownership is added as the fifth ingredient, with line managers and women themselves taking responsibility.
That must be right. Lack of ownership also explains why there is still comparative little progress nationally on expanding nursery and other childcare provision. Who is responsible? Central government? Local government? Individual parents? Employers? Each has a good reason why someone else should pay.
So it is just possible that the government’s voucher scheme might actually work, freeing up the system and stimulating new places. Empowered with ?1,100 in hand, parents may badger their employers to match it, perhaps also putting more of their own money in. Without new money, very few extra facilities will start.
So far the omens don’t look good. The bureaucracy is expensive. Well-off parents now paying the full cost suddenly get a state subsidy. Rather than expanding provision, existing providers like local councils try to lock people in to protect their funding. Only time will tell if the benefits outweigh the costs. In the meantime the evidence grows stronger that companies will gain if they take these issue seriously.
And by the way, happy birthday Opportunity 2000! A five fold increase in members in five years, with the issue very firmly on the national and political agenda, must make you Business in the Community’s most successful campaign ever.
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