babysitting at the office
fara | 1/27/2005 | 12:30 pmthis was news i heard yesterday while driving to work and now it’s in thestar
the relevant excerpt from the article
Government babysits nursery issue
PRIVATE sector employers have been reminded to voluntarily set up crèches or child-care centres at their premises by December.
If this advice is not heeded, the Government will come out with rulings to compel the companies, especially those with many women staff, to do so, reported Kosmo!.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil gave this ultimatum, as many employers were still reluctant to set up their own crèches despite being offered Government incentives.
Shahrizat said this stubbornness showed that employers do not appreciate the role of women, who make up half the country’s workforce.
“The policy to compel employers to set up crèches at the workplace will be the Government’s last resort,†she said.
Shahrizat said the Government wanted to prevent women from quitting their jobs, merely to be with their children, as this would not benefit the country.
She said Government persuasion and encouragement had received lukewarm response as employers often cited financial constraints or fear of losses as their excuse.
Shahrizat said it was their own reluctance to set up the crèches that had caused their companies’ productivity to decline.
am not sure about the public sector – whether or not they have nurseries for their staff – but i can vouch for at least two private companies. one that is my company’s client – has a taska (daycare centre) – situated quite a distance from the office buildings and only for toddlers (above 2 yrs old). my own company, in the past methinks it’s because there weren’t that many employees but now that we’ve grown in numbers, there might be some justification there for a nursery to be set up.
would i place kya in somebody else’s care if a nursery is set up for my company?
pros (if in the same building) :
- able to check up on my child (children nyehnyeh) ever so often
- if still breastfeeding, can make visits 3 times during working hours
- don’t have to worry about having to stay back slightly later
cons:
- we (amir and i) have this phobia of leaving kya with non-relatives
- all those stories about babysitters / day care providers causing hurt to kids (intentionally or unintentionally)
- nurseries/day care centres charge extra for the extra hours they have to care for our kids
- there’s also the issue if these premises are actually suitable for housing a day care centre
personally, i think there won’t be any nursery set up any time soon. unless it is made compulsory by the govt. so if shahrizat is true to her word, we’ll probably hear about plans of having one earliest in 2006.
kya would be nearly 3 yrs old by then.. and time to think about another baby 
ponder…
