A Reliable Backup Plan

More law firms offer unique benefits focusing on children and the elderly

Ashley Johnson - Legal Assistant Today - January/February 2008

It’s 7 a.m., and you have to be at the law firm where you work in one hour. Your child has a fever and your spouse can’t take time off work. So, what can you do? You either miss work to care for your child, and use vacation time, or you use sick time but fall behind, creating more work for your co-workers who must cover for you. Or you can use employee benefit or low cost emergency in-home childcare to call a caregiver to come to your house for the entire day while you head to work with the assurance of knowing your child is safe. Several years ago, paralegals and other law firm employees would not have had this option. But today more, and more law firms not only offer their employees emergency in-home backup care for their children and elderly parents but center-based backup daycare, too.

Law firms like White & Case, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Crowell & Moring, and Ropes & Gray are just a few employers that offer these types of benefits. White & Case and Pillsbury Winthrop both were recognized in Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers, a national consulting firm, as two of the best law firms for women in 2007 for giving caregiving benefits. “Overall, our approach to benefits and compensation is that we want to be competitive in the marketplace and we also want the benefits we offer to be relevant to the people,” said Debbie Johnson, chief human resources officer at Pilsbury Winthrop in San Francisco whose firm offers this benefit to all employees. “Employee retention is top of mind for most firms, and while there are many factors involved in an employee’s decision to stay with a particular employer, the level and quality of the benefits package – and [also] a firm’s demonstrated commitment to being family friendly – is one factor.”

Pillsbury Winthrop offers free backup childcare at locations through-out the United States to its paralegals, attorneys and staff through Bright Horizons, which have nearly 650 childcare centers, 75 percent which are sponsored by organizations specifically for children of their employees. Some of these locations include Houston; New York; Northern Virginia; Orange County, Calif,; San Francisco; Carmel Valley, Calif,; Sacramento, Calif.; offer referrals to in-home childcare and adult or elder care through Work Options Group, which provides nationwide backup care for all ages through a network or more than 400 homecare agencies and 3,00 childcare centers.

Offering family-friendly, work-friendly benefits doesn’t just have an impact on retaining top talent but it also reduces absenteeism and the workloads of co-workers who have to cover for an absent employee. “In terms of the direct impact that it has on other employees, it increases the productivity of everyone and the moral,” said Ellen Dwyer, co-managing partner and Crowell & Moring at Washington, D.C.

The daycare center used by Crowell & Moring opened in May 2007, and the firm reserves 80 slots for all of its employees.” There was a lot of thought that went into it and when we were thinking about it we were focused on both of our populations, which was really important to us; so, that’s out lawyer population and our staff population,” Dwyer said. The center, which is less than one block from the firm’s Washington, D.C. offices accepts children from six weeks old to six years old and features developmentally appropriate toys with an educational component.

Paralegals, attorneys and other staff are finding that with emergency in-home backup care and center-based daycare they don’t have to sacrifice their jobs, their vacation time, or their sick time. “Employees just generally would much rather use their vacation for leisure than for staying home and taking care of child because of a breakdown in caregiver service,” said Susanne Wamba, director of health and welfare benefits for White & Case in New York. In addition to offering in-home car for children and adults, White & Case offers center-based childcare. “We offer these services across the country and I think that’s something [our employees] come to expect.”

For Caroline Sayers, an associate at White & Case in Los Angeles and mother to 18-month-twins and a four year old daughter, having a backup for when her normal arrangements fall though is a huge stress reliever. “Before I had kids, it never occurred to me how much this would mean to me to not have to go through the hassle when your daily routine is upset,” Sayers said. Sayers began using Case & White’s backup center-based daycare when her daughter was about two years old. While she employees a full-time nanny, there are unexpected occurrences when the nanny is out. Sayers is allotted 50 hours of backup care free and after that she pays $35 a day per child.

Along with childcare needs, a growing trend is the baby boomer generation whose aging parents might eventually require care or already do. “There’s a real movement in this country in terms of care giving for aging loved ones that tries that to maintain independence for as long as possible,” said Cindy Carrillo, found and CEO of Work Options Group.

Finding reliable care for aging parents is a concern that law firms are ready to address. “We feel as a firm it’s equally as important to care for your parents as it is for your children,” Wamba said. White & Case makes in-home elder care available through Work Options Group and subsidizes it in the same manner as in-home childcare. Employees receive 50 free hours after which it costs about $15 to $35 a day for up to 12 hours of care.

Rick McKenna chief administrative officer of White & Case in New York, uses the in-home care for his parents, who he moved into an apartment directly next to his, about three years ago. His job requires him to travel 30 percent to 40 percent of his time during the year, mainly to Europe and Asia. “If I didn’t have that elder care I don’t know how I could do it to be honest with you because I’d always be a wreck worrying about them and what’s going on,” he said. Whether he calls for a care giver to come to his home two weeks in advance or two hours, McKenna knows that someone always will be available to look after his parents. “The thing I’m most impressed with, with the service that we have here at the firm, is the ability to basically kind of fill in the gaps with my permanent lifestyle [and] the flexibility of being able to call in a short period of time and be able to get somebody,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest benefit because if I didn’t have this through White & Case, I’m not quite sure what I would do.”