On-Site Childcare at Nichols Corporation: Benefits & ROI
This report examines the benefits of establishing an on-site childcare facility at Nichols Corporation, drawing on a review of existing literature and a phenomenological survey-based study of company employees. The paper argues that workplace childcare reduces absenteeism, lowers employee turnover, and improves overall productivity. Findings are consistent with prior research and extend that work by employing multivariate models and a representative workplace sample. The report also identifies indirect effects — such as managerial validation of leave requests — that previous studies have overlooked, and concludes with recommendations for further research into elder care, caregiver type, and individual demographic moderators.
- Introduction: The Positive Impact of Workplace Childcare: Problem, purpose, scope, and methodology overview
- Literature Review: Data collection methods and relevant prior studies
- Methodology: Phenomenological approach and employee survey design
- Findings: Survey results and inductive categorization of outcomes
- Discussion of Findings and Company Implications: Interpretation of results and benefits for Nichols Corporation
- Recommendations for Further Research: Future research directions and moderating variables
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What makes this paper effective
- Integrates multiple data sources — including the Australian AWIRS, the U.S. National Study of the Changing Workforce, and a large southern university survey — to triangulate findings across different national and institutional contexts.
- Moves systematically from problem statement through literature review, methodology, findings, and discussion, giving the report a clear professional structure appropriate for a corporate audience.
- Supports quantitative claims (e.g., 37–60% drop in turnover, $3 billion annual cost of absenteeism) with named citations, lending credibility to the business case being built.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied literature synthesis in a business-report format. Rather than treating prior studies as background noise, it explicitly compares methodologies — noting, for instance, that the present study's use of multivariate models and control variables distinguishes it from earlier single-variable analyses — and uses those comparisons to justify its own design choices.
Structure breakdown
The report opens with a transmittal letter and executive summary before moving through six substantive sections: an introduction establishing the business problem, a literature review covering data collection methods and relevant studies, a methodology section describing the phenomenological and survey approach, a findings section organized inductively, a discussion connecting findings to company implications, and a closing section recommending future research directions. This mirrors standard professional report conventions and makes the argument easy for a non-academic corporate reader to follow.
Introduction: The Positive Impact of Workplace Childcare
Because of demographic transformations in the present-day workforce, there has been a re-emergence of the welfarist human resource management approach. Formerly, individual employee benefits were emphasized; now, however, family provisions have become the focus of corporate "welfarism." While company-sponsored family leave and childcare are the core elements of modern-day corporate welfarism, a majority of studies have focused exclusively on the latter. Schandl (1992) cites figures indicating that childcare has become a key worker benefit in recent times. During the late 1980s, more than 3,500 major U.S. corporations provided their workforce with some form of childcare assistance; of these, 775 sponsored on-site childcare. Hartley and Keyser (2002) further claim that employers in Canada have supported childcare in various forms for over 25 years (Brandon & Temple, 2007).
Existing research has a narrow scope, making it difficult to generalize the extent of company-sponsored childcare across different industries. Allen, Spector, and Bruck (2002) maintained that there has been growth in company-sponsored childcare in America, despite their tabulations being drawn from choice-based nationwide samples collected at different points in time. The authors found that 71% of organization-sponsored childcare initiatives were located in hospitals, 20% in unions and public agencies, and 9% in the industrial sector in 1978. By contrast, the proportion of programs found in the industrial sector and in hospitals in 1982 was 47% each, with the remainder found in trade unions and public agencies (Brandon & Temple, 2007).
Statement of the Problem
Workers with children to care for frequently face work-family conflict and childcare-related issues that limit their workplace productivity and result in frequent absenteeism (Louv, 1992). This study's objective is to find ways to address this situation and offer working parents an opportunity to attain high productivity while simultaneously continuing to meet their childcare needs (Payne, Cook, & Diaz, 2012).
Purpose and Scope of the Work
The study intends to demonstrate how the provision of on-site childcare benefits both workers and the organization — specifically Nichols Corporation — by allowing workers the time to invest greater effort in their jobs and thereby achieve enhanced productivity. Additional benefits include stress elimination, comfort, convenience, practicality, ease, and security for workers with children, fostering a more positive overall workplace atmosphere (Abraham & Bowdidge, 1990; Kane, 2004). Further, the study endeavors to show that a childcare facility will be cost-effective rather than costly for the organization, as it reduces employees' burden and affords them greater time and energy to focus on job tasks (Oyer, 2008).
Statement of Methodology
The study utilized survey methodology for generating decisions based on unbiased information. Surveys enable the gathering of unbiased data and rational decision-making on the basis of assessed outcomes. An evaluation of outcomes makes it possible to address areas of importance promptly, rather than wasting precious resources and time (Abraham & Bowdidge, 1990).
Literature Review
Data Collection Method
Temple and Brandon (2007) examined data from the AWIRS (Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey). The survey gathered information to allow the summarization of industrial relations patterns and the analysis of differing workplace efficiency and equity outcomes. The study consisted of one principal survey examining 2,004 workplaces from all industries — excluding agriculture and defense — having a minimum of 20 workers, drawn from all Australian territories and states. A smaller companion survey examined managers from 349 workplaces with 5–19 employees. The principal survey's sample was selected via stratified multistage probability sampling of Australian workplaces, with a response rate of 87%. Four distinct questionnaires made up the principal survey; on-site managers responsible for routine industrial relations administered three of these. Data employed in the analyses were derived from three of the four survey modules: the General Management Questionnaire, the Employee Profile Questionnaire, and the Employee Relations Management Questionnaire (ERMQ) (Brandon & Temple, 2007; Payne, Cook, & Diaz, 2012).
Settles, Sheng, and Zhao (2011) applied the NSCW 2002 (National Study of the Changing Workforce) for their analysis, as the sample it employs represents the overall American population. A nationwide cross-sectional sample of 3,504 dual-working individuals was interviewed from October 2002 to June 2003 via telephone, using a regionally non-clustered, stratified random sample generated through random-digit-dial methods.
Payne and colleagues (2012) employed a technique involving parents of preschool-aged children employed at one large southern U.S. university. Subjects were recruited via email to participate in a childcare satisfaction and needs survey during the autumn 2008 semester. The HR department identified 1,162 employees — 46% women, 87% married, and 60% Caucasian — who carried at least one pre-schooler on their insurance. After the administration sent out cover emails urging participation, all employees received an email invitation containing a link to an anonymous questionnaire. Several listservs of supporting on-campus organizations (such as the Women's Faculty Network) were also sent the invitation, potentially broadening the survey population. The response rate was approximately 35% (407 employees). Analyses were limited to parents of pre-schoolers employed by the university who submitted a fully completed questionnaire (Skouteris, McNaught, & Dissanayake, 2007).
The Review of Relevant Studies
In a report by the American Business Collaboration published in 2000, 63% of member employees testified to increased productivity when utilizing quality dependent care. Twenty-nine percent of employees with children had experienced some form of childcare breakdown in the prior three months, linked to tardiness, reduced focus on the job, and absenteeism (Bond, Galinsky, & Swanberg, 1998). On average, U.S. working parents skip nine workdays per year due to childcare issues; as children progress from preschool to primary-school age, this figure rises to 13 days. These absences, combined with turnover, prove expensive to companies — valued at 1.5 times the annual salary for exempt workers and 75% of yearly wages for hourly employees. Employee absenteeism arising from childcare breakdowns costs American organizations approximately $3 billion a year (Keyser & Hartley, 2002).
Fifty-four percent of organizations surveyed reported that providing childcare positively affects workforce absenteeism, producing a 20–30% drop in missed workdays. Moreover, childcare provisions can bring about a 37–60% drop in turnover (Ransom & Burud, 1988). One of the main drivers of client retention is personnel retention; the latter, in turn, drives organizational growth and profitability. One study found that a 7% reduction in personnel turnover resulted in over $27,000 in increased company sales and nearly $4,000 in increased profits per worker (Huselid & Becker, 1995). Organizations that have implemented childcare services, or plan to do so, must understand how to measure such programs' value as return on investment (ROI) (Zhao, Settles, & Sheng, 2011).
Watson Wyatt completed an extensive study in 2000 that investigated 405 NYSE and NASDAQ firms. The Linking Human Capital and Shareholder Value study identified a positive relationship between the development of superior shareholder returns and the HR effectiveness of the firm (Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2001). The study posed numerous questions about how firms conduct HR practices, including development, staffing, remuneration, and communication; respondents answered 150 queries regarding their work lives and perceptions of their workplace. The study found that a high organizational human capital index was associated with high shareholder value, while a low index was linked to low shareholder value. Watson Wyatt further demonstrated that the correlation was so pronounced that a considerable improvement in 30 principal human resource practices was associated with a market value increase of 30% (Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2001).
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