Case developed by Martin Tadlock

After graduating from college, you were hired as the Special Assistant to the President of PrimeCare, Inc., which owns and operates twelve nursing homes throughout your state. The central office, where you work, oversees all twelve PrimeCare facilities.

Your job is to conduct special research projects for the company president, Walter Henocker, and other executive officers of PrimeCare.

This morning, Jan Debliss, Personnel Director, has called you into her office.

"Well, how do you think things are going—after being here for one whole month?" she asks.

"Not bad," you reply. "I've really learned a lot. Everyone has been very helpful getting me on my feet and used to the way things work around here. I'm happy."

"Good," Jan says. "I hope you're feeling ready to help me solve a rather pressing problem. Usually, I'd handle it myself, but I've been snowed under with all the problems we're having on the new record-keeping system and the opening of the new nursing home. In addition, tomorrow I begin a two-week vacation. So I thought I would ask for your help."

"I'd be glad to help," you reply.

"Good," Jan answers. "Let me tell you what I'm looking for and then turn you loose on it.

"We've been having problems finding employees for the day shift. We've also been having problems with absenteeism among the day-shift employees we now have. In fact, the absenteeism has gotten so bad that a lot of the time we aren't fully staffed, and supervisors must call off-duty or second- and third-shift employees to fill in. We're concerned that patients aren't getting the full care they should because we're always shorthanded. Also, these staffing problems are causing added workloads for the employees who do show up consistently as scheduled, and that's killing staff morale."

Your mind is racing along at top speed now, trying to figure out how to solve such a problem.

Jan continues. "During last month's meeting of the directors of PrimeCare's twelve homes, the directors agreed that the biggest reason employees give for absenteeism is problems with child care. As you know, most of PrimeCare's employees are young women who work as nursing assistants. Many have young children—preschoolers—and they leave their children with family or friends who act as unpaid sitters. But if the sitter is busy or the kid's sick, the mother stays with the child and won't show up for work. And we can't pay high enough wages for our employees to go out and pay $2 an hour for paid sitters, which is what they have to do if no family or friends are available. This makes it hard to find employees for the day shift.

"One of the center directors suggested that we look into providing child-care services for our employees. Not only would it cut down on absenteeism, it would also boost morale and give us a benefit to offer, helping to make up for the low salary we pay. It won't cost the company much, if anything, because we get a matching state grant for any money we spend on such a service."

Jan pauses, which give you a chance to jump into the conversation.

You ask, "You mean setting up a nursery in an empty room right in each of the nursing homes?"

"Yes, that's one possibility," Jan replies, "but there could be several ways to provide the service. That's where you come in. I'd like you to find out what you can about corporate childcare. I read somewhere that over 2,500 employers offer some kind of child-care assistance to their employees now, and the number is growing."

"It sounds like a good idea," you interject. "What should I do with the information once I find it?"

"Well, I'd like you to write it up in a report that tells me what you find out and also recommends a child-care service that you think would work for us."

You are wondering if there is more to this than you think. So you ask, "You mean like a report summarizing what other places have done with child care for their employees, with a recommendation included?"

"Yes, Jan answers. "Just send me a memo summarizing how other places provide childcare for their employees and recommend the service that would work best for us. But don't report everything you find out about the services other places provide. We can't handle some huge, expensive thing like some corporations can. However, we can provide up to $800 per facility each month and have it matched by the state. We don't have any start-up money, and the state won't provide any, but at least the monthly funds are available. So focus on services that we could afford, perhaps by adapting them to our situation."

As Jan speaks, you realize that she probably has some information that could help you, and maybe even an opinion about what PrimeCare should do. You ask, "Is there any type of child-care service that you think would be especially good for us?"

"Well, frankly, I think that setting up a day-care service in each of our twelve homes would be an excellent way to meet our needs. Although I haven't had much time to investigate the matter, I have found that we could probably do it cheaply. Our present insurance would cover an in-house service, so we wouldn't have to face any additional expense there. Also, each of our homes has one room that could be used for this purpose. Though they aren't outfitted with the furniture or equipment needed for day care, they all meet the state's requirements, so we could get a day-care license without any additional expense."

Though this sounds good, you wonder about one thing: "But if we don't have any furniture or equipment, how could we get it? You said we won't have any start-up money."

"Well, that could be a problem," Jan responds. "We might be able to get donations from community people. The senior citizens' center near one of our facilities has already offered some things. And once we have the rooms outfitted, our only operating expenses would be pay for staff; supplies like paper, crayons, and Kleenex; and food—snacks and lunches—for the children. We may even be able to staff the centers partly with volunteers."

"It all sounds great," you observe. "Why not save some time by having me study ways to set up in-house services without investigating other alternatives?"

"Well, there are two reasons. First, some directors think such a service would cost more money than we will have. And, to tell the truth, I haven't had a chance to calculate the actual costs myself, though I'm pretty sure I'm right. Second, some directors feel uneasy about settling on a specific method of providing day-care assistance until all reasonable possibilities have been investigated. They fear that if we focus immediately on one alternative, we may overlook others that would better serve both the employees and the company. So, I need to have you get information on several possible ways of providing our employees with child-care assistance. That's what the directors want, and, after, they are the people who will decide what we will do."

"I see," you reply. After a short pause, you ask, "Is there anything you can tell me about the number of employees who would use a child-care service at each facility?"

"Yes," Jan says. "We talked informally about all of this at the last directors' meeting. The director who brought it up gave me a sheet with a few figures based on his facility. Maybe it will help you."

Jan stands up and hands you a sheet scribbled with some figures about the Charleston Avenue PrimeCare facility. She starts toward the door, your signal that the conversation is over.

Jan says, "Have the memo on my desk when I return from vacation in two weeks. I'd like to be able to use your memo to decide what to recommend to the next directors' meeting. In fact, if I agree with your recommendation, I'll just pass your memo along with a note from me."

"Okay," you reply. "The memo will be waiting for you when you return."

On Jan's note sheet, you find the following information about the Charleston Avenue facility.

Day-Shift Positions Total Number

Nurses 17
Nurses' Aides 41
Housekeeping 15
Kitchen 13
Maintenance 2
Office Administrators 2
Therapists 3
Social Workers 3
Management 3
Nurses 2
Nurses' Aides 3
Housekeeping 1
Kitchen 2
Maintenance 0
Office Administrators 0
Therapists 0
Social Workers 0
Management 0

Day Shift
72 employees paid less than $9/hour
24 with children under 6 years of age (28 total children)
24 employees paid more than $9/hour
6 with children under 6 years of age (7 total children)
Child Care Budget (monthly)
$4000 local from PrimeCare for each facility
$4000 state match for each facility
total = $8,000

What can we provide?
—within budget
—22 employees say they will use/need in-house day-care services
—together they have 27 kids under 6
—volunteers?

Assignment

1. Write the report Jan Debliss has requested.

2. Use the general superstructure for reports (See handout).

Include the following sections:

• Introduction. In it, review your assignment and describe the most important features of the problem that your research is intended to help the company solve. If you think you can make your memo more effective by briefly stating your recommendation here, do so. Do not give this section a heading.

• Method. Tell how you got your information. Do not include full bibliographic citations, but name the journals and other sources you consulted. This will be a short section, perhaps only one sentence long.

• Findings. Discuss each of the major alternatives you think will most interest Jan Debliss and the directors. This section should include the alternative(s) you will recommend. Be sure to describe each alternative in a way that lets your readers know what it involves. Also, be sure to evaluate each of the alternatives from PrimeCare's point of view. This will be your longest section.

• Recommendation. State what you think PrimeCare should do (even though your recommendation may already be evident from your discussion of the alternatives). Your recommendation may involve a combination of two or more of the alternatives you described in the preceding section, or it may focus on just one alternative. Be sure that your readers understand how your recommended service would be implemented at PrimeCare; to do that, you may need to provide information not already given in your "Findings" section.

3. Use the memo format, including centered headings (all caps, bold). You may include subheadings (initial caps, flush left, bold).