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What services can Child First offer you and your business?

• We offer on-site presentations about how to save money on staff recruitment and retention by supporting work-life policies for your employees.
• Our Child First  Employer Toolkit provides research on why it’s good business to support your employees with their work-life challenges, surveys to assess your business’s current work-life policies and your employees’ work-life needs, and an Employee Turnover Cost Analysis worksheet.
• We can help your employees find quality child care so that they can engage more fully at work.

How Can You as An Employer Support Quality Child Care?

• Be open to exploring ways your organization can support parents and their children.
• Download this  Employer Toolkit to use to develop work-life policies for your employees.
• Provide on-site information on your local Child Care Resource & Referral program for your employees. Call Child First  at 603-352-7512 ext. 4163 or 1-800-529-0005.

Why do we need help from the community to promote high quality child care for all children?

 Because the economics of child care simply don’t work. The average New Hampshire family spends between 18-25% of its annual income on child care, while the average child care provider in the state earns $14,000 a year with little or no benefits. Staff turnover in the child care field can be as high as 41% in some programs, mainly attributed to this poor compensation. (The Governor’s Business Commission on Child Care and Early Childhood Education, Executive Summary, 2000.) In light of the current research that asserts the chief causes of poor quality child care are high employee turnover and inexperienced staff, this statistic is especially alarming.

Child care cannot continue to be funded on the backs of parents and providers alone. We need the support of our communities to ensure that children receive the kind of early care and education they need to develop into healthy, contributing adults. It is our legacy to do what is right for our children today, so they may carry on the world of the work tomorrow.

The lack of affordable, quality child care in New Hampshire not only affects children and families, but also has a significant impact on our state businesses. According to survey results from 2000, almost 25% of working parents reported that at least one parent had to quit his or her job or switch from full-time to part-time work due to the lack of child care. In New Hampshire alone, businesses lose as much as $24,000,000 a year because of child care related staff absenteeism or turnover.

CCR&R Employer Toolkit (PDF documents):

• Why Invest in Child Care?
• Employers' Guide to Childcare Solutions
• Employer Survey - Corporate Needs and Policies
• Comparison Chart of Child Care Options for Employers