Employers and child care

The issue of employers and child care evokes mixed feelings in the public at large. While some herald corporate involvement in child care as the shot in the arm that will bring about genuine quality improvements, others see it as little more than a public relations ploy aimed at selling the image or product of the company rather than at the well-being of children. While some maintain that corporate involvement is widespread, others are more skeptical, believing that the "noise in the system" has been caused by the efforts of a few highly publicized companies and that this so-called trend is not widespread at all. While some see corporate involvement as a lasting commitment, others suspect that it will be short-lived, a fad doomed to extinction at the first business downturn. Likewise, the effect of corporate involvement is disputed. While some see the effect as radiating out, affecting the total child care delivery system, others suspect that only the employees' children in involved companies truly benefit. Such critics may be, in fact, grateful for a limited impact because they believe that much of corporate action would probably result in quick fixes undertaken without a true appreciation for the complexities of the child care system. One of the main reasons that the issue of employers and child care arouses such divergent reactions is that there have been few data to use in assessing its prevalence, its predictors, its effect, and its future prognosis. Thus, the public debate has revolved more around rhetoric than fact, on "guesstimates" rather than true estimates.