ABA Section of Business Law

Trying to find an acceptable work/life balance can be a daunting task for lawyers faced with the demands of juggling clients, billable hours, and career milestones along with family commitments. The effort can be even more challenging for lawyers with children. Consequently, work/life benefits are increasing in importance and are becoming a critical part of comprehensive benefits packages today.

Law firms and law department leaders may wonder whether they should address or care about the work/life issues their employees are facing. Law firms that consider these matters will probably conclude that helping lawyers and staff reach a work/life balance makes for not only a better work environment but also better client service and work product as well.

Why Offer Child-Care Solutions?
Offering work/life benefits can ease the tensions and anxieties related to life's daily challenges and, in particular, with child care. These benefits also enhance the sense of family and care among employees. Firms need to develop and enhance benefits to push beyond the expected benefits most employers offer—although it has become more challenging to stay in the lead. Taking away the worries about child care goes a long way in helping employees find an acceptable work/life balance.

The importance of providing the best work/life solutions for employees was made clear more than a decade ago when child care rose to the top of the list of concerns. Increasing numbers of women were graduating from law school-- they now make up at least 50 percent of graduating classes. A strategy that eases the burden and stress of finding quality child care allows parents to focus on the practice of law and the delivery of quality legal service.

A priority for all law firms is to recruit and retain talented employees. To do so, firms must do more than simply offer the most competitive salary, although salary is certainly a factor in deciding which firm to join. Lawyers are looking for firms that consider their own needs and the needs of their families—present and future. Offering child-care solutions reinforces a firm's commitment to the needs of its employees. Providing the right resources results in more engaged and loyal employees who are committed to the goals of the enterprise. It is an investment in the future and an important element in the retention of lawyers, managers, and staff.

Consider the facts: the workforce is changing and recruiting diverse employees is becoming much more competitive. The new associates entering the workforce are a part of a generation that is not requesting but demanding work/life balance. The Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) reports that 44 percent of associates are female, but that figure drops to only 18 percent of partners. Steps need to be taken to stop the attrition and retain the talent. The decision to offer programs is no longer an option but a necessity.

Deciding Which Options to Offer
There are a myriad of child-care options available to law firms. The first step is to determine what is already being done to handle child care and what the true or additional needs are. Are children in preschool or cared for by a nanny or relative? Is the need for full-time care or just for backup care? Is the preference for child care to be located near the office or closer to home? Do parents want the conve-nience available to allow them to take their children with them when they travel for business? It is important to ask these types of questions to find the right work/life solution for your environment. For instance, an on-site child-care facility may not suit your workplace, and employees may just want options for backup care. Offices in other cities might have different needs altogether.

Our Experience
When Alston & Bird first started looking at expanding child-care options, we had two offices, and now we have six. The Atlanta office was fast approaching 1,000 people and the Washington, D.C., office had fewer than 30 people. The idea of offering firm-sponsored child care first came up in our regular town hall meetings, where we open the floor for discussion of just about any topic of interest or concern. At that time, we were already offering a referral service to help our employees locate quality child-care centers and nanny agencies in their respective cities, and a backup care option for employees in the Atlanta office. Even with these services, it was clear that our employees still had child-care concerns and needs that were not being met. And although everyone was talking about it, we were not sure what people really wanted—whether they desired full-time care, backup care, or sick-child care.

We hired a consultant to help determine what our employees really wanted for child care. The results were notably different for each office and even within the Atlanta office. Everyone wanted the firm to provide child-care assistance but to varying degrees. From a survey of our employees in Atlanta, we determined that there was a need for quality, full-time child care for our lawyers, but our staff wanted backup care and a program for school-aged children. Employees in Washington, D.C., only wanted backup care.

With child care being such a high priority for our employees, we began to explore our options. In 1999, the state of Georgia improved the tax credit for employer-sponsored child care, which increased the operational reimbursement to 75 percent and provided for 100 percent reimbursement of depreciable property over 10 years. From a financial perspective, the timing was such that it made our decision to open a near-site center much easier.

We partnered with Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a company that specializes in providing care across multiple locations, and in October 2001, we opened the Children's Campus at Alston & Bird, in Atlanta. The center has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is exclusively for the dependent children of Alston & Bird employees. It is a near-site center located within walking distance of our Atlanta office, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The facility is 15,000 square feet and accommodates 105 children in full-time and part-time care, 55 children in backup care, and about 77 children in our school-age program, which includes summer camp, winter and spring break, and school holidays. The center is equally accessible by lawyers and staff, and we provide a scholarship program for employees on a lower salary scale.

Through our partnership with Bright Horizons, we were also able to offer child-care solutions to lawyers and employees in our smaller offices. For employees in our Charlotte office who wanted full-time care options, we purchased reserved spaces in an existing center. In New York City and Washington, D.C., it is almost impossible to find openings in quality child-care centers, even for backup care. To meet the needs of our employees in those offices, we purchased dedicated backup care spaces in existing Bright Horizons centers. We selected centers both near the office and in the suburbs, since many of our employees use public transportation.

To further round out the firm's child-care benefit, we also offer the Bright Horizons Network Access Program to all of our offices' employees. This program provides full-time, part-time, and backup care priority access to participating Bright Horizons Centers across the country and abroad.

Do Changes Need to Be Made?
Once established, child-care programs need to be reevaluated on a regular basis to make certain they are still meeting the needs of employees. As offices grow and change, the need for different types of care may also change. When it became clear that our office in Washington, D.C., needed more than backup care, we purchased full-time spaces in an existing center close to the office.

Another area of coverage to consider is providing child care when your employees travel for business or when their children are sick and need to stay at home. Through a backup care program at Bright Horizons, our employees have access to over 400 centers that are either NAEYC accredited or exceed state licensing standards. Our employees don't have to spend time researching what centers are available. They simply contact the call center and someone will make the arrangements for them. The employee's cost for backup care is only $15 per day. For employees who need in-home care for a sick child, the call center will make arrangements for a licensed home health care professional to come to their home. The cost for this service is a mere $4 per hour. While our employees have the option to stay home with their child, this resource provides them with an alternative. We have found that some of our lawyers will work from home but will call on the service for an extra pair of hands. The service also provides backup in-home elder care, which is an added bonus for our employees with aging parents.

How Much Does All of This Cost?
While these programs are not inexpensive, they are worth the price for the benefits the firm receives and are viewed as an investment in our resources. Our employees pay the market rate for use of the Atlanta child-care facility, and the firm subsidizes the campus to cover the difference. Having a benefit that keeps just two associates from leaving pays for the investment made by the firm. The backup programs also balance out in costs. In 2006, 226 employee days were saved due to our backup child-care programs.

Offering child-care solutions should help increase retention in your firm. Our retention statistics show an improvement of 6 percent since we opened the child-care center. Offering child-care solutions can also enhance your reputation as a great place to work and as an employer of choice. Offering these services shows your lawyers and staff that the firm is committed to work/life balance, and the result may be increased pride and commitment by employees.