Working Parents For a Working New York

1. Working Parents For a Working New York A New York City Council Initiative sponsored by Councilmember Bill de Blasio

2. Partnerships SUPPORTED BY THE N.Y. UNION CHILDCARE COALITION (A Committee of the New York City Central Labor Council & New York State AFL-CIO) District Council 37, AFSCME; Local 237 Teamsters; Local 1199, SEIU; Transit Workers Union, Local 100; United Federation of Teachers; UNITE/HERE; RWDSU; Local 153 OPEIU;CWA Local 1180, District 1 and Local 1105; District Council 1707, AFSCME; CSEA; NYSNA; CSA; Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1056; AFGE, District 2; Local 32-BJ, SEIU; PEF; UAW Local 259 & 2110; UFCW Local 1500; United Postal Workers; United Store Workers, Local 3 LABOR/MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIPS DC37/NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation Local 237 IBT/NYC Police Department 1199 SEIU/NYC Homecare Subcontractors

3. WPWNY Presentation Goals • To discuss relevant factors for low and moderate income working parents and the impact on working families and workplaces • To provide an overview of the structure, process and research methodology of this initiative • To discuss preliminary results and potential outcomes

4. A Winning Formula for NYC • Child care affects countless working parents, including thousands of city employees who provide critical services to our city each day. • Parents with reliable, high quality care can dedicate more time and energy to their job related responsibilities.

5. In 2005, 62.6% of women with children under 6 were in the workforce compared to 2 out of 5 women in 1975. Mothers in the Workforce, NACCRA.org/policy The average cost of infant care in NYC is $13,000 per year. www.childcareinc.org Demand is greater than supply. For example, only 56% of the income eligible children under age 6 are served in publicly subsidized care in NYC. City Workers Need Quality Care

6. Child Care and Employment Turnover The availability of child care is an important correlation to job stability • Mothers without convenient access to child care (e.g. center-based program) were twice as likely to leave their jobs than those with convenient access. Convenient is defined as less than 10 minute from home. • Mothers with multiple care arrangements (e.g. back up) were 53% less likely to leave their jobs than those with no back up plans Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research : Research-In-Brief from Child Care and Employment Turnover , by Sandra L. Hofferth and Nancy J. Collins

7. Child Care & Job Stability • Availability of day care within 30 minutes of home was important for the job stability of moderate-wage mothers. • Moderate wage mothers who faced higher child care prices were more likely to leave their jobs than lower wage mothers facing lower prices. • Moderate wage mothers are most sensitive to cost and stability. • Low wage mothers may have access to subsidy, high wage mothers can absorb higher cost.

8. Home Care Employer PerspectiveBill Pernisek, President CABS Home Attendant Service, Inc. NYC • “We have often found that the underlying cause for workers’ inability to meet these increasing client needs is their own inability to obtain competent, reliable child care.” • “It is our hope that when the results of the study prove access to reliable child care services does in fact improve performance, work quality, job retention and, in the long run reduces costs, it will lead to the implementation of a significant political effort to make such services available to all eligible employees of both City and subcontracted agencies.”

9. The Working Parents Initiative has three main components ▫ Information Services ▫ University Research ▫Subsidy Assistance

10. CHILD CARE INC.Resource and Referral Agency • Child Care Referrals • Phone Consultation • Information to Subsidy Participants • Workshops on Accessing and Maintaining Quality Child Care

11. THE RESEARCH DESIGN Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations will examine the effects that child care subsidies and information have on job performance and retention.

12. RESEARCH GROUPS • Experimental Group 190 parents will receive child care subsidies and information and referral services. • Control Group 102 parents will complete interviews but receive no subsidies or referral services.

13. COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH • Date of Hire • Punctuality for Baseline Year • Sick Leave Usage • Annual Leave Usage • Performance Evaluation Measures • Employee Self Reported Baseline Interview • Follow Up Questionnaire of Participants in Experimental and Control Groups

14. How Were the Parents Selected?

15. At a minimum, qualified employees must: • Work for one of the three agencies/subcontracted agencies at one of the selected work sites; • Be earning 275% of poverty or below; family of 3 $47,218 • Be the parent, guardian or person responsible for the care of a child; • Agree to the terms of the program (i.e. participation in focus groups, workshops, interviews). • Consent to disclosure of personnel records. • The Consortium for Worker Education (CWE), a labor supported training program - worked with employers and unions to recruit employees at the work site and assist with the child care application process.

16. Selection by lottery • After a pre-screening process, 300parents were selected through a random lottery. • 190 of the parents, the experimental group, will receive the child care subsidy and parenting information; • The other 102 will make up the control group for the study and will not receive the subsidy or information.These parents, however, will be compensated for any time they spend participating in the study. • The remaining parents withdrew from the process or became ineligible.

17. Subsidy Component • What does the subsidy mean? The parent only pays a 10% co-pay of their total family income, up to 275% of FPL, and the subsidy, typically worth about $4,000, depending on the modality of care, pays up to the city’s set market rate for publicly funded care. • Providers must provide their SS#, report their income, and complete a 14 pg. health and safety form in order to receive subsidy money. • The money is not paid as a reimbursement to the parents. This has proved to be a difficulty for some parents. We are working with them to find alternate providers.

18. Arrived Late, Left EarlyChild Care vs. Other Factors

19. Preliminary Results • The following results are preliminary and reflect the baseline interview results of one of the participating unions. • Subsequent results will be available in July • Employer personnel reports will complete the data collection process.

20. Demographic of Research Population 292 Participants • Mean Age 37.5 • Gender: Female 89.5% Male 10.5% • Race and Ethnicity: 50% Black 28% Hispanic 11% other • Mean Salary: Home Care $21,610 Hospital Workers $31,439 School Safety Agents $35,652

21. Distribution of Children’s Ages

22. Informal Care: 68% use unlicensed, unregulated care : Relative or kin Neighbor Regulated Care: By comparison, only 10% using center based care 16% using group family day care Child Care Arrangements

23. Quality of Care • Quality of current provider 68% rated high • Reliability of current provider 68% rated high • Cost of Care – 62% rated high (Choices were low, medium and high) • Would change child care if possible 71% • Better care 30% • Better location 28%

24. Work and Child Care • 85% of study pool population arrived late or left work early, frequently or sometimes • 80% had to use sick days, frequently or sometimes • 28% have taken leave without pay, frequently or sometimes

25. Commute Time After Drop Off <30m = 25% 30m-1hr = 41% 1hr - 1.5hrs = 30% Commute Time To Provider <30m =31% 30m-1hr =31% 1hr-1.5hrs =14% N/A =25% Commuting TimeCommuting time to child care and then to work is a major factor in time and attendance and retention.

26. Work Consequences and Child Care • 48% have had work-related consequences including: ▪ Verbal warning • Written warning • Disciplinary Action such as docked pay

27. Performance Evaluations • In your opinion, have your child care responsibilities had a negative effect on your work performance? Agree 37% Disagree 66% ▪ Only for the parents who answered yes to the above question: Do you think your supervisor’s evaluation of your work performance includes your child care related problems? Agree 71% Disagree 28%

28. Supervisor and Understanding of Family Demands • My Supervisor Understands My Family Demands • Strongly Agree 6.7% • Agree 38.5% • Neutral 16.3% • Disagree 28.8% • Strongly disagree 9.6% Source – employee baselines

29. Before and After Costs

30. Dependent Care Assistance Plans • 93% of the participants had not heard about this option for workplaces where the employer offers it as a way to assist with payment of child care costs. • Employee contributions to the DCAP accounts benefit the taxpayer only to the extent that they have taxable income to offset. • Employers and Unions should consider negotiating employer contributions as an incentive to participate in the plans.

31. What Choices Would You Make? • If I had a choice to get a percentage raise or money for child care, I would choose: 81.9% money for child care 19.4% raise ▪ If I were provided employer subsidized child care, I would be more likely to stay at my job even if I didn’t like my supervisor 82.9% Agree 9.2% Neutral 7.9% Disagree ▪ Even if less promotional opportunities 42.7% Agree 25.3% Neutral 32 % Disagree

32. Concluding Observations ▪ Participant reports from baseline interviews indicate that a lack of accessible, reliable childcare does impact on lateness, time on task, and disciplinary action overall job performance. Similarly, research indicates that there is a significant relationship between quality and childcare worker retention. ▪ Continued research and final outcomes of the WPWNY study will clarify these correlations. A comparison of employer data with worker self-reports will aid in determining the relationships between a worker’s experience and their measured productivity and performance.