Working moms get to play

Madhumita Adhikari, a 30-year-old Bangalore-based banking professional, planned to quit her job when she had her baby seven months ago. But last year, her company, Society General Global Solutions, opened a day care centre within the workplace, helping her make the decision to be a working mom instead. “I decided to continue working. Now, even though I’m working, I feel I am a hands-on mother, as I get to see my baby every now and then. It feels like a home away from home,” she says.

Like Madhumitha, several employees are able to pursue their careers even after having babies, thanks to such corporate crèches. Today, in an effort to retain talent, motivate employees and bring in a positive work culture, several organisations — including banks, IT companies, legal firms and manufacturing industries — are tying up with day-care centres to set up crèches in their offices.

HOW DAY CARE SAVES TALENT
Akila Agarwal, partner at the Amarchand Mangaldas law firm in Delhi that has had a crèche on campus for three years, found that her employees think twice before moving to an organisation that does not provide such services. “A number of working women have returned to work after their maternity leave because this facility is available at the workplace,” she says. “A day-care centre plays a huge role in retaining talent. Organisations put a lot of effort in training young women and it is a huge loss when they are compelled to quit due to lack of child-care facilities. Having a centre within the office premises definitely reduces attrition amongst working mothers.”
Seena Edvin of the Tom and Jerry crèche in Bangalore says that for feeding mothers, this is the best way out. “Nurturing is important when a child is born and if a mother can access her child every two hours while working, what more could she ask for?”
Yet, even as crèches at the workplace are becoming more popular with organisations, the supply does not meet the demand. Out of 100 organisations in a big city, only 10 to 15 offer these services. A spokesperson at Hindustan Unilever, which has two day care facilities in the country, one each in Mumbai and Bangalore said, “The demand has risen almost by 150% in the last three years. This has helped employees to focus at work without being worried about their little ones. In case a child requires immediate attention, the facility helps parents check in on their child easily. This has impacted performance and satisfaction positively which has been measured through various internal surveys.”

DADS DEAMAND DAY CARE TOO
As Amrita Singh, co-founder of The Little Company day care centre in Mumbai, which has operations in five organisations in the city and Delhi, including Hindustan Unilever and Godrej, points out, “There is clearly an increasing demand for such centres, especially over the last two years, not just among women but even among men. It is for every organisation to understand that spending on crèches will bring in more returns than on any other infrastructure.” She adds that in her crèches, 50% of the children are enrolled because their fathers work in the premises. “When we approached corporate houses five years ago, the idea was first adopted as a CSR initiative. Later, it became a gender-specific responsibility, and today, it is an HR initiative,” says Amrita. “Employees who were not keen on having children as it may interfere in their career progression started having babies because of this facility.”

BUT THE SETUP IS EXPENSIVE
The presence of corporate crèches in Mumbai is not as large when compared with cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Bharat Kapur of Bangalore-based Your Kids R Our Kids (YKROK) that has operations in 80 companies across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi, says, “The demand is enormous in Mumbai, but space is the biggest constraint. Organisations are not willing to invest as rental rates in Mumbai are very high.” Besides, crèches should ideally be built on ground floors for safety reasons, but in Mumbai vacant slots are available only on top floors, he adds.

“In corporate daycare, the system is customised. We have children between 3 months and 12 years, and the timing of the crèche is based on what companies need. This makes it very expensive. But the benefits outweigh the cost,” says Bharat. AT YKORK, the fee is Rs8,500 per month. He adds that the revenue potential of a corporate crèche far exceeds that of a residential day care centre. “The scope is enormous and this space is yet to be tapped fully by corporates, realtors and daycare centres,” says Bharat. He adds that because of the potential of corporate crèches, companies have started instructing builders to mandatorily create a daycare space, along with gyms, cafeterias and so on within the office premises.

@radhika1705