Work-Related Child-Care Centres in Canada - 2001 : Chapter III
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Chapter III : A Study of 14 Workplace Child-Care Centres in Canada |
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Les Petites Cellules Childcare Centre
Ericsson Canada
Town of Mount Royal, Quebec
Ericsson Canada and the Les petites cellules Childcare Centre have a close relationship. The company strives to offer high-quality child care services to its young workforce. The child-care centre is a good example of a centre that receives substantial support from the employer, and where services are in high demand because of a relatively young workforce.
The Employer
Ericsson Canada is a multinational telecommunications company. It employs 1,300 people in Mount Royal. The average age of the workforce is 27. Ericsson Canada’s workforce is multicultural, which reflects the nature of the telecommunications industry and the multinational character of the company itself. Ericsson Canada occupies three buildings situated in close proximity to one another.
The Child-Care Centre
History
In 1993, some Ericsson Canada employees came up with the idea of creating a child-care service in their workplace. A survey was carried out among the employees to determine their interest in, and need for, child-care services. In view of the positive response, the senior managers of the company agreed to incorporate a child-care centre into the new building that they were planning to construct. Ericsson Canada’s CEO was particularly interested in the project. His interest was instrumental in making the centre a reality. A project manager worked on setting up Les petites cellules from September 1994, until it opened in February 1995.
Operation and Services
The Les petites cellules Childcare Centre is a not-for-profit organization administered by a Board of Directors with nine members: six parents, a representative appointed by Ericsson Canada, the centre’s director and a member of its staff.
Les petites cellules is funded by the Quebec Department of Child and Family Welfare in accordance with the provincial government policy on child-care services1. The centre’s budget is supplemented by the fees paid by parents, along with some funding activities and a federal grant for hiring a student during the summer.
Les petites cellules has space for 50 children according to the permit granted by the Department of Child and Family Welfare. It actually serves only 40 children, 9 of them infants, so that it can offer a better educator/child ratio, in spite of a long waiting list for its services. The centre’s business hours are 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. Parents can register their children on a full-time or part-time basis.
The centre’s services are bilingual. Every class has an anglophone and a francophone educator. The children speak to each educator in her mother tongue.
The Relationship Between the Child-Care Centre and the Employer
In exchange for serving the company’s employees exclusively, Les petites cellules receives numerous services and financial benefits from Ericsson Canada.
When the project began, Ericsson Canada integrated the centre into a building project that was already in progress, at a cost of between $400,000 and $500,000. The company also lent the centre $99,000, which was used to buy start-up equipment and to pay the project manager’s salary. Part of the loan served as working capital when the child-care centre first opened.
Les petites cellules does not pay rent to Ericsson Canada. However, in the Spring of 2000, the child-care centre agreed to pay fees of about $37,000 per year to the company in exchange for electricity and photocopy, telephone, computer, maintenance and mail services. It would cost the centre about $40,000 more if it were to pay full rent.
Revenues from employee parking are divided equally among the employees’ social club, the sports centre and the child-care centre. Its share of these revenues represents about $11,000 annually for the child-care centre.
The centre’s director is extremely pleased with the support that Ericsson Canada provides. In her opinion, having a company representative on the Board of Directors is very useful, particularly when that representative is a member of senior management. According to her, support from senior management is also very important when a workplace child-care service is set up.
The length of the centre’s waiting list shows a strong need for its services among Ericsson Canada’s employees. Early in 2001, the child-care centre will welcome 10 more children. The costs of the renovations to increase the size of the premises were defrayed by Ericsson Canada. According to the centre’s director, employees’ demand for child-care spaces could justify building a second centre of the same size as Les petites cellules. Ericsson Canada’s investment in child care has been critical in meeting an important need for its employees.
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| 1 Information on the Quebec policy regarding child care can be found in this study in the section "Three Provincial Policies". resume |