amily-friendly policies encompass more than just workplace arrangements. To have peace of mind while they are working, employees also need reassurance that their children are in a safe day-care environment, that their sick parents are getting good care and that their personal lives are under control.
Many corporations contract with consultants to give information and advice to employees making difficult decisions about their personal lives-be they finding eldercare arrangements, getting loans or seeking financial aid to send their children to college.
For example, the Partnership Group, a consulting firm in Blue Bell, Pa., gives employees looking for day care a packet of information about providers in their area, along with a child-care checklist, pamphlets on how to interview providers, evaluate services and cope with placing your child with a new provider.
Need help picking a college for your child? The group has a database of all colleges in the country. They won't plan your wedding, but they will tell you who can do it for a price you can afford. They'll even find out how to ship the body of a loved one to another country for burial.
Until now, corporations have formed the bulk of the group's clientele. But federal agencies are quickly catching on to the benefits of this service. The Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, for example, has used the Partnership Group for two years.
"It's expensive," says Carmen Queen-Hines, APHIS' flexiplace coordinator. "But it's more than offset by increases in employee morale and satisfaction. They take less leave. They make one call and get a list of referrals rather than having them go around to different places. They don't spend time in the office worrying and it reduces their stress."
The program is a big hit. Nearly 12 percent of the agency's 6,000 employees use the service. "The norm for using a referral system is usually about 4 percent to 6 percent," says Queen-Hines. "Many people use it more than once for different issues that come up in their lives."
Agencies are also holding lunch-time seminars on elder care, disciplining teen-agers, managing stress and other issues affecting employees' personal and professional lives. A July 1996 draft report by the Office of Personnel Management Work and Family Program Center looked at federal family-friendly policies in 64 regional installations and found 44 percent of them provide lunch-time speakers.
Such seminars, which help working parents cope with daily concerns that interfere with work, have long been held in the private sector. "We did a workshop for Marriott on helping people teach kids to be home alone," says Susan Price, co-author of Working Parents Help Book. "People worry about injuries in the home: The kid makes a bowl of soup but walks away from the stove to watch TV and a fire breaks out.
"The obvious reason for Marriott to be doing this is that they want employees not to be worrying about child care. They want them to concentrate on work."
OPM encourages agencies to provide information/referral services, lunch-time seminars and other programs. Last June, OPM recognized three agencies for their outstanding work and family programs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, sponsored elder-care discussion groups and a nursing mothers support program.
The Naval Air Station in Lemoore, Calif., was highlighted for its child development center, which offers full-time care for children ages 2 months to 5 years, along with a part-day enrichment program for older kids.
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