Perceived benefits of employer-sponsored child care among employers and employees

The number of young children with employed mothers and the number of women in the workforce have increased. Employer-sponsored child care has been suggested as a solution to this increased demand for child care. To assess the feasibility of employer-sponsored child care, several questions have been addressed. Do employers and employees have differing perceptions about the benefits of on-site employer-sponsored child care? What effect do demographic variables, such as gender, age, income level, education level, and family structure, have on these perceptions? To answer these questions a survey was sent to 218 employers and 600 employees at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A MANOVA was used to determine the relationship between the demographic variables and perceptions. Also, descriptive statistics were used to compare means of perception scores between employers and employees. The results indicated that gender was a significant demographic variable. Females scored significantly higher than males and had more positive perceptions than males about the benefits of on-site child care. There were no significant differences between employers and employees in their perceptions of benefits of on-site child care.