Vouching for childcare assistance with two quasi-experimental studies

Abstract

Purpose – Human resource management (HRM) practices are implemented to improve outcomes, such as reducing turnover, absenteeism, and improving performance. Using social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to examine one HRM practice that has received less attention by researchers: employer-sponsored childcare assistance programs. Design/methodology/approach – Study 1 – a field study compared three groups of hospital employees’ (n=148) attitudes and behaviors using MANCOVA/ANOVA over two time periods. Study 2 – using a field study, on-site and voucher childcare assistance programs were evaluated in terms of the cost to the organization and the relationship to attitudinal variables. Findings – Study 1 – results indicated that employee performance was higher and absenteeism lower for employees using the on-site childcare center than employees using an off-site center or with no children. Although the attitudinal results did not align with hypotheses, they were not inconsistent with SET. Study 2 – results indicate that childcare assistance programs may be a beneficial HRM practice for organizations to implement. Research limitations/implications – One limitation of Study 1 is the small sample size. Future research should continue to examine how employee benefits like childcare programs affect employees, as well as examine how such benefits differentially employees who value and do not value the benefits. In Study 2, although the authors randomly selected the sample of on-site and voucher programs, the health care facilities self-selected themselves to participate in the program and selected the type of childcare program, a potential source of bias. Future research should examine childcare assistance programs and their impact on work-family balance and strain-based conflict in a wider variety of samples. Practical implications – Implications for research and practice: Both studies offer researchers a “next step” in the evaluation of childcare assistance research. Additionally, these studies are of practical value to administrators/researchers in organizations who may be considering vouchers or on-site programs as they relate such programs to organizational outcomes. Originality/value – The first study is one of the few studies on this topic to use a field design with two time points and with multiple behaviors and attitudes. The second study provides a descriptive comparison of two types of childcare assistance programs, a comparison made by few studies to date.

Truancy and job satisfaction among dual career couples towards organizational sponsored day care amenities in developing nation

“…Perry (1978) and Farrel (1980) found thrust on sponsored child care facilities , Our finding from present study also explores the dearth of organizational sponsored day care amenities and consistent with the findings of Amato, (1990), Simons et al (1992), and Agrawal and Gautam (2018) . The moderation results in terms of gender are still significant and consistent to finding of various previous researches (Goff et al, 1990;Kossek & Nichol, 1992;Gullekson et al, 2014).…”

“…Organizational sponsored day-care amenities (OSDCA) have significant effect over job Satisfaction of employees (Goff et al, 1990;Kossek & Nichol, 1992;Ezra & Deckman 1996;Gullekson et al, 2014;Agrawal & Gautam, 2018). Furthermore, it has been explored that female are more indulged in truancy and less satisfied with their job satisfaction in developing nations like India because of lack of family support.…”

“…It was also assessed that (OSDCA) significantly related with TR and JS. Gullekson et al (2014) proved that organizations providing child-care facilities diminished the rate of employees' absentees.…”

Does Satisfaction With Family-Friendly Programs Reduce Turnover? A Panel Study Conducted in U.S. Federal Agencies

“…The result is that offering such programs signal to employees that the organization is not only concerned about their work but their personal roles as well (Facer & Wadsworth, 2008). In accordance with social exchange theory, this indicates that family-friendly programs are goodwill gestures that can create a positive social exchange between workers and the organization (Caillier, 2012(Caillier, , 2013aGullekson et al, 2014;Hornung & Glaser, 2010;Kelliher & Anderson, 2010;Lee & Hong, 2011).…”

HR Policies and Maternal Labor Supply

“…The only study comparing the different effects of on-site vs. voucher childcare assistance is pursued in the USA, by Gullekson, Griffeth, Vancouver, Kovner and Cohen (2014). They investigate vouchers as one solution to reduce the cost of childcare assistance without reducing the benefits to the organization.…”