My best friend struggles with chronic health challenges.  She called me one day to complain that she was going to have to travel 2 hours for an ultrasound as the hospital down the street was unable to do it.

I knew from discussions with local child care facilities, that the reason they couldn’t do the ultrasound locally was not because they lacked resources, because they couldn’t attract a technician.  They had three potential candidates, but all three had turned down the job offer because they were unable to locate child care in the community.

Upon hearing this, my friend, who has never had children, but who has listened to me for the past 25 years talk about the lack of child care replied, “you mean to tell me that the lack of child care affects me?”

The reality is that yes, it does. 

Fortunately, many employers are now starting to pay attention to this.  More than 1/4 of the Fortune 500’s most recent “100 Best Companies to Work For” list has onsite child care. It is important for businesses to be family-friendly focused if they want to retain and attract the best people as the mass exodus of baby boomers retire.  It makes perfect sense.  Yes, it does.

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