CONTACT:

Gerri Weagraff, Business Development Director
302-479-1675

For Immediate Release: May 23, 2005

BACKUP PROGRAM MARKS TEN YEARS

The Family & Workplace Connection (FWC) will be taking time out of its annual fundraising event on May 25 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its Just in Time Care® program. When FWC launched the program on January 1, 1995, backup care for children and elders was surfacing as a major concern of employers and employees alike. Today, backup care continues to be a critical workplace issue. Research shows that employees with dependent care responsibilities miss an average of eight days of work every year due to situations when regular care is not available. Some businesses address the need by allowing employees to telecommute, take sick or vacation days, or be flexible with their hours on such days. However, according to the Society of Human Resource Management, only nine percent of companies offer backup care.

In the early 1990s, FWC had identified backup care as an unmet need in discussions with area corporations. However, it was the icy winter of 1994 in Wilmington, Delaware that sparked the idea for Just in Time Care. While many businesses remained open, there were numerous days when child care center, elder care facilities, and schools closed. DuPont was one of the companies that took notice. Parents were opting to either stay home with their children, bring their children to the workplace, or—while not condoned by DuPont—allow children or elders to stay home alone. The distraction level was high, affecting employees’ stress levels, their peace of mind, and their productivity on the job.

In April 1994, representatives of FWC, DuPont, and Work/Family Directions (WFD) met to discuss how to address the backup care need. As a result, the concept of what is now known as Just in Time Care emerged. In August 1994, DuPont led the way for implementation of Just in Time Care by providing startup funds to FWC to bring the system to life and make it available to DuPont employees as well as the employees of other local companies.

“Just in Time Care was a breakthrough idea when it was developed 10 years ago,” said Judith Presser, senior consultant at WFD. “It was the first backup care program that addressed employees’ need for backup care in a comprehensive way: both in its approach in identifying care for all the situations parents and employee caregivers need backup care, and in its approach to helping employees find and pay for care,” she added.

Just in Time Care links employees with a wide range of backup care options whenever their regular child care or elder care is unavailable. Companies subsidize the cost, helping to alleviate some of the financial burden on employees. In 1995, the program’s first year in operation, 1,473 backup care days were arranged through Just in Time Care. In 2004, 28,342 days of backup care were arranged, and 19,861 work days were saved.

Over the decade, FWC has expanded and adapted the program to meet its clients’ needs and requests. Shortly after the program’s kickoff, AstraZeneca requested a version of Just in Time Care that differed from the standard model. This paved the way for customization, which has become a hallmark of the program. In 1998, FWC worked in conjunction with WFD to devise a model that could operate outside of FWC’s geographic coverage area, so that the service could be provided to Citigroup in the New York City metropolitan area. In addition, Citigroup requested that its employees be permitted to use their subsidy dollars to pay friends and family members, because the company knew this was the form of backup care most frequently used by employees. This feature quickly became incorporated into the standard service. The Just in Time Care program took another leap forward in 1999, when Bristol-Myers Squibb requested that the program be made available to all of its employees across the country. It was at this point that Just in Time Care became a nationwide service.

A decade of actual use of the program has presented some interesting trends. For instance, sick care represents only a small fraction of the program’s overall use, most likely due to parents’ desire to stay home with sick children coupled with a scarcity of sick-child care centers and the higher cost of in-home care agencies. “The most striking trend has to be the use of friends and relatives for backup care,” said Gerri Weagraff, FWC’s Business Development Director. “While some people who are in a bind will agree to have a stranger take care of their child or elder, most prefer to choose care they are familiar with.” Last year, 75% of the backup care paid for under Just in Time Care was for care by friends and family members.

Just in Time Care ’s tenth anniversary will be celebrated at The Family & Workplace Connection’s annual benefit on May 25, 2005 at the New Candlelight Theatre in Ardentown, Delaware. FWC will recognize representatives of DuPont, AstraZeneca, Citigroup, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and WFD during the event. For more information, call 302-479-1679 or 800-660-6602.

The Family & Workplace Connection, in operation since 1986, is a nonprofit dependent care resource and resource organization providing services that help people manage their work and personal lives. FWC operates child care, elder care, and backup care referral services in addition to operating programs aimed at helping to increase the supply and improve the quality of child care.

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