NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2014) - The Human Capital Institute (HCI), the global institution for strategic talent management, today announced the release of a new white paper, "Early Childhood Education: The Critical Connection between Work and Care." The white paper, created in partnership with Knowledge Universe, a leading global education organization, explores how employers can help ensure all families have access to high-quality early childhood education as more parents work full-time.
In the U.S. today, fewer than one in three children have a full-time, stay-at home parent, and approximately 24 percent of children under the age of five receive some form of organized childcare, whether at day care centers, nurseries or preschools. Moreover, at every workplace in the country, there is a larger percentage of employees struggling with the issue of setting aside a significant portion of their income to pay for child care and early education. As evidence for the value of early learning continues to emerge, today's parents are often left wondering about whether they have the right care giver, how they can afford to pay for this care and what else they can do to provide the best development opportunities.
While parents continue to struggle with this challenge, employers are facing greater pressure to help fill the gap. This is particularly important as early childhood education is proven to be instrumental in shaping the future workforce and ensuring tomorrow's employees have the necessary skills to be successful. Still, many organizations are unsure of what their role should be in investing in early childhood education and fostering a more child-friendly workplace.
The white paper offers several strategies on how employers can develop such an environment, including:
- Conducting a needs assessment to understand the challenges employees face in balancing work and family life, such as commute time and child care costs, to make informed decisions about what type of benefits can be offered.
- Communicating awareness of new benefits to all employees, and ensuring recruiters and hiring managers build awareness of these benefits and policies for applicants and new hires.
- Continually evaluating and determining employees' needs through interviews or annual surveys, and evaluating the outcomes and impact of the program to make ongoing improvements.
"Early childhood care and education has been shown to have numerous societal benefits; not just in giving parents peace of mind that their children are safe and immersed in an environment of learning, but also in creating a productive, skilled workforce," said Mark Schmitz, senior vice president of Knowledge Universe, U.S. "In our white paper, we aimed to show how companies that provide such options to working parents are taking an active role in shaping the workforce of the future."
"To operate effectively and sustainably in today's challenging business landscape, employers must be able to find qualified individuals for their open positions, while also working to improve the performance of their current workers," said Carl Rhodes, HCI's chief executive officer. "As our research shows, the companies that offer comprehensive programs for early childhood care and education will be better prepared to meet both of those goals."
HCI and Knowledge Universe have made "Early Childhood Education: The Critical Connection between Work and Care" available for download at: http://www.hci.org/hr-research/early-childhood-education-critical-connection-between-work-and-care.
In addition, the two organizations will share the findings from this white paper in a complimentary webinar, "The Ten Steps to Become a More Family-Friendly Workplace," presented by Lori McAdams, vice president of Human Resources for Pixar Animation Studios, and Mark Schmitz, talent management subject matter expert and senior vice president of Knowledge Universe, U.S. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. Registration details are available at: http://www.hci.org/lib/ten-steps-become-more-family-friendly-workplace.
About Knowledge Universe, U.S.
Knowledge Universe® believes that the power of education changes lives. Every day more than 300,000 children across the globe take their first steps, learn to read and prepare for school through our early childhood and school-age programs in a nurturing and safe environment. The Knowledge Universe -- United States family of companies includes KinderCare® Learning Centers, CCLC®, Champions®, Cambridge Schools™, Knowledge Beginnings® and The Grove School® where more than 31,000 people help children discover books, music, science, sports, cooking and language in a nurturing and safe environment. To learn more, visit us online at http://www.kueducation.com/us/ and on Twitter. Outside the U.S., Knowledge Universe, U.S. affiliates include Busy Bees, Pat's School House, Learning Vision, Brighton Montessori, Odyssey and The Children's House. Knowledge Universe, U.S. serves both community families as well as corporations across all sectors to provide child care and family care solutions, offering services through well-recognized institutions in early childhood, primary, secondary and higher education.
About Human Capital Institute (HCI)
HCI is the global association for strategic talent management and new economy leadership, and a clearinghouse for best practices and new ideas. Our network of expert practitioners, Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 corporations, government agencies, global consultants and business schools contribute a stream of constantly evolving information, the best of which is organized, analyzed and shared with members through HCI communities, research, education and events. For more information, please visit www.hci.org.
About HCI Research
HCI is a premier thought leader in the new discipline of strategic talent management with an unparalleled reputation for innovation, leadership and excellence, demonstrated through cutting-edge research and analysis. HCI Research draws from the knowledge of a large network of executive practitioners, expert consultants, leading academics and thought leaders, as well as thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis, to produce insightful findings and recommendations that shape strategy and encourage action across the continuum of talent management. To learn more, please visit: http://www.hci.org/content/research.