Conference 7.286::digital

    There have been several times that DEC has investigated this
    option. They have always decided against it. If you want to
    read something about this issue there are at least two other
    conferences where it has been discussed at length. RAINBO::WOMANNOTES
    topic 13 has 70 some odd replies. Several topics in AIMHI::PARENTING
    (4,97,102 for example) have also covered this issue.

    		Alfred

One year later, does anyone know if Daycare as a benefit has been 
examined, rejected, considered?  The times are changing and it is
too bad that DEC cannot change with them on this matter.

re .2:

This has been discussed briefly in topic 451, you might like to check it 
out.

Dave.

    Day care is not DIGITAL's business, unless you mean using
    computers to babysit!  What business/profit would there be?
    
    You already get a tax credit for day care - take it. Digital does
    not even subsidize the cafeteria as other companies do - and you
    will notice that everybody eats, whereas not everybody has children.
    
    	RMM
    

    Not everyone eats in the cafeteria - I haven't eaten in a DEC cafeteria
    in several years.  So I'd just as soon DEC not subsidize it.  By
    the same token, it would be nice if daycare on premises were available,
    but DEC needn't bear the cost of it.

    I'm puzzled as to WHY Digital, one of the top employee-oriented 
    businesses around, doesn't make daycare on the premises, or in the
    area, available! I don't think that its the cost of daycare that
    people are concerned about as much as the availability of it (although
    cost is certainly an issue). 
    
    How about it, mothers and fathers of Digital. Shouldn't the issue
    of available daycare be poked at, talked about, researched, project
    planned for, analyzed, and every thing else a good Digit can do
    to an issue?? 

    Some one I our group (Joyce Roop) remarked in a recent meeting on how
    pleased she was with the Day Care referral service Digital now offers.
    Now, I'm a parent of older children so I've never investigated this
    issue, but I should think there would be some worthy discussion in
    WORDS::PARENTING. 

    No, this is not a parenting issue, this is an issue "about our Company,
    how we work here, how we could work better, etc."
    
    This is definately a work related issue!!

Someone has suggested that some real-estate developers are offering 'perks'
like locker rooms and day care to get big companies (like DEC) to settle in
their office space.

These kinds of offerings may steer Digital to a particular site (when looking
for new office space...I'm speaking of the field here) but Digital itself does
not sponsor it.

Lee

    >It costs about 10k/year/child for daycare.
    
    Someone please tell me that it doesn't cost $200/week for daycare
    in Ma.
    
    Btw, the $1500 credit works out to an equivilent deduction of about
    $10k on gross earnings (if you are in a 15% bracket).
    
    Jim

>    Someone please tell me that it doesn't cost $200/week for daycare
>    in Ma.


	It cost me 115/wk for one older child, I can easily see how it could go
to 200 if you had an infant or multiple children....

And I found that $115/wk was one of the more reasonable prices!

mlm

    Re: .12   OUCH! Yet another reason that I must be out of my mind
              to want to move back East.
    
              Thanks for the warning.
    
    Jim

    Re .12
    
    WOW, and I thought the 80/wk minimum plus extra for hours >40 was
    steep. This is for a licensed individual that provides care in their
    own home. Also, this is viewed as the standard rate by the State
    day care agency and the provider gets a subsidy from the state for
    meals. Sounds like you should contact the folks at the new referral
    program.
    
    Bob Mc

    re the last few:
    
    	I saw a recent article (Newsweek?  I'm not sure) that compared
    child care costs in various cities, and Boston is indeed the high
    end.
    
    	We (living in Newton) feel extremely lucky to have a babysitter
    come to our home to take care of our infant for $5.00/hour.  The
    going rate for agency-supplied sitters is close to $7.00-$8.50.
    
    	Our 3-year-old is in a nursery school.  The hours are 9-2:30
    Monday-Thursday and 9-12 Friday, and it costs about $2300 for the
    school year.  That is roughly $2.50/hour, and is typical of local
    nursery schools.
    
    	I would estimate the average weekly cost of child care as follows:
    
    Infant care at home:	$260-340
    Toddler day care:		$150-200
    Nursery school:		$60-70
    
    This reflects the greater care that younger children need, and the
    resulting staff ratios and facility requirements. 

    	And, after all this, nobody is making much of a wage providing
    any kind of care.  If costs are running half or less of the above
    in other sections of the country, somebody is being grossly exploited.
    
    	The moral of the story:
    
    1.  Kids are a *major* financial drag, at least until they're in
    grade school.
    2.  The child-care cost situation is only going to get worse.

    	This issue has been gone over many times in PARENTING, and I
    get the impression that Digital will not take the lead in this.
    I do believe it will follow trends as they are established, and
    child care is becoming a hot item politically these days.  It is
    incumbent on interested parties to keep reminding management that
    this is an important part of a lot of people's work environment.
    
    			David

    
    My wife and I looked for child care for our infant via an agency
    in Worcester.  We called numerous referals and the average was around
    $120 per week, the highest was $130 and the lowest $95.  These were
    all in-home care for 40 hours by state liscenced individuals.  This
    comes out to around $3/hour which I think is quite reasonable.
    
    					John G.

>< Note 271.12 by DONNIE::MOSER "Time to trot, Frito!!" >
>                                 -< Sorry... >-
>
>>    Someone please tell me that it doesn't cost $200/week for daycare
>>    in Ma.
>
>
>	It cost me 115/wk for one older child, I can easily see how it could go
>to 200 if you had an infant or multiple children....
>
>And I found that $115/wk was one of the more reasonable prices!
>
>mlm

 I probably should clarify,  this was in a nursery school (all day) that
included 1/2 day of preschool and 1/2 day of just daycare.  The classes were
fairly small (10-15 kids, 3 teachers).  I was pretty happy with it.

mike

	Tucked in behind the announcements regarding the changes in
    the Digital health plan(s), there was an important comment about
    child and elder care with promises of more information to come:
        
Source: Management Memo, December 1988

"UPCOMING CHANGES IN BENEFIT PROGRAMS"
.
.
.
"Digital will also offer another program allowed by U.S. tax law that 
enables employees with dependent care expenses (such as child care and 
elder care) to set aside a portion of their income (pre-tax) in an 
account earmarked for payment of such expenses.  A number of government 
restrictions apply to this program; so carefully read all the plan 
details when they are published.

"Information on the medical changes and dependent care programs will be 
available soon through many channels, including newsletters and group 
meetings.  The level of detail will range froma  short video to a 
complete enrollment kit containing detailed plan provisions as well as 
an individualized comparison of the HMOs that are available to each 
employee."