A pioneer program that bridges the generations with an on-site corporate day-care center is being watched closely by business executives concerned about their employees` responsibilities for pre-schoolers and elderly dependents.
So far, no other companies have said they will follow the lead of Stride Rite Corp.`s Intergenerational Day Care Center, the first of its kind in the country, on the fourth floor of the firm`s headquarters here.
”I try hard to push other corporations over that line to do what we`re doing here, but there`s a lot of resistance despite all the benefits,” said Arnold Hiatt, chairman of the board of the $500 million company, a leading marketer of children`s shoes.
There is no resistance, however, by the 500 Stride Rite employees who work at the headquarters. ”My daughter`s so happy, and that means everything to me,” said Ellen Stahl, an administrative assistant whose 2-year-old daughter, Victoria, attends the center five days a week. ”I want her to see older people are people, too.”
Based on a sliding scale fee, Stahl pays $100 a week for child care.
”My grandmother lives in a nursing home,” said Ronna Campanelli, a leasing representative for Stride Rite`s retail divisions, whose grandmother, Josephine Campanelli, age 73, attends the center four days a week. ”Here, she has stimulation and gets to be with young people, too. I`m so busy I no longer have time to take her places, so this takes a lot of the stress off me.” She pays $17 a day for elder care.
Though children and adults have separate areas of the bright, 8,500-square-foot facility and separate programs, the experimental center brings the two age groups together formally and informally.
One area, filled with colorful posters, books and toys, consists of four classrooms for children 15 months and older. The seniors` wing is at the other end, with separate areas for relaxing, talking, exercising and watching television.
In between is a reception area-living room. On the large cocktail table in front of a sofa is a copy of ”You`re Only Old Once: A Book for Obsolete Children” by Dr. Seuss. Nearby is a cabinet with teddy bears, pandas and small wooden toys.
Although all rooms have tot- and adult-size chairs, the common meeting places are the seniors` ”parlor,” the kitchen and dining room. On a recent day, the elders and the children help plan a birthday party for a staff member. They blow up balloons, make colorful signs and sing ”Happy Birthday.”
Margaret Donovan, 74, reads to Jared Rooney, 2, Andrew Santos, 3, and Mary Horan, 4. Harriett Bennett Strandberg, 76, tells a group of children about the horses she owned as a child.
Though each age group takes individual walks in the mornings, in the afternoons they venture out together, dropping in at nearby parks, malls and hotels.
While the children learn reading and writing, the elders hold discussion groups, cook or exercise.
”We did a survey and found 25 percent of our employees have responsibility for an elder-and 25 percent for children,” said Hiatt, the driving force behind the center.
”It`s clear that business has to assume more responsibility than just for the bottom line, particularly public companies such as ours. An intergenerational center seemed such a natural thing to do. It works well.”
Being a pioneer is nothing new for Hiatt: In 1971, he opened the first corporate-sponsored, on-site day-care center, still in operation, at the company`s Roxbury facility. The firm also has an eight-week paid maternity leave plus an 18-week unpaid parental leave, flex time and an on-site fitness center.
After three years of research, Stride Rite opened the center in February with a staff of 30 professionals and slots for 55 children and 24 adults. The center is open first to employees` dependents, and then those in the community. Demand among employees has been greater for child care than for elder care so far.
The center is run by Stride Rite; Wheelock College, a Boston-based school specializing in child care and family studies; and the Sommerville-Cambridge Elder Services, a non-profit social service agency.
Startup cost to redesign the facility was $700,000. Hiatt estimates operating expenses will be $600,000 a year, not including rent estimated at an additional $200,000. Real costs are $150 a week for preschoolers, $170 for toddlers and $140 for seniors. The Stride Rite Foundation subsidizes employees; outsiders pay the full amount, but many can find supplemental government grants.
Linking the two age groups in one corporate setting is ”kind of gravy, especially if you manufacture children`s shoes. But not every company can do it,” said Pamela D. Mitroff, a director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Illinois Public/Private Child Care Council.
”Businesses are investing $2,000 to $3,000 a person for health care and are wondering if they can continue to do so. Few can afford an
intergenerational center, too,” she said.
Hiatt has a strong social conscience, he says, but attracting and retaining qualified employees in the U.S., where 40 percent of workers care for children and the elderly, is a solid business investment, he says.
In the coming decade, 80 percent of all women of child-bearing age will be in the work force. Currently, 10 million children are in need of day care. There are 1.8 million Americans over 65 years, and 24 percent of Americans now care for frail and aging relatives. An additional 30 percent expect to do so within five years.
With projected labor supply shortages in the next decade, many such as Hiatt believe corporations that help employees with these responsibilities are investing in a stable work force.
”Projections for New England are that by 1995 there will be 600,000 new jobs created and only 100,000 new 18-year-olds coming into the work force,”
said Karen Leibold, Stride Rite`s director of work and family programs who is in charge of the new center. ”That means we will turn to older people. As employees` ages move up, they will be caring for elderly spouses as well as children-and they`ll be very squeezed.”
Leibold believes ”all businesses in all communities need to address the issue of elder care and the changing needs of families. It`s not an easy step, but it`s getting easier. It`s something we can`t afford not to do.”
As a steady stream of visitors pour through the center daily, Hiatt hopes other corporations will become interested. ”But corporate care is only part of the answer,” Hiatt said. ”There have to be national standards for child and elder care. Ultimately, it is a public, not a private, responsibility. Such care should not be at the whim of business cycles-if our company were not doing well, my board would say the center has to go.”
Economist Ann Markusen believes that intergenerational centers soon will be ”one of the many costs that companies assume to keep their work force committed and happy.” Markusen is a professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.
Hiatt says a major concern among corporate executives is the liability potential of providing on-site services. ”Liability is not an issue with us,” he asserted. ”It`s a distraction that has no validity.”
Sitting in the pink and green parlor in the elders` section of the new center, Eva Da Rosa, 80, is not concerned about economics or social issues.
”I was lonely when my husband died and worried I was robbing my children of their lives,” said Da Rosa, who is diabetic. ”Here, we all do things together. I love the kids. They grab me around the legs and hug me. It`s good to feel wanted, even if you`re old.”
Nicholas McCaffery, 5, whose mother, he says, ”works upstairs on a computer,” gives this assessment of the two ”parts” of the center: ”I like the older part best. They give me teddy bears and real neat stuff.”
