Naples Daily News
Bonita firm sees day care as an investment
By RIDDHI TRIVEDI-ST. CLAIR,
rtrivedi@bonitanews.comSeptember 13, 2005

With a 2-year-old daughter, living in Cape Coral and working in Bonita Springs was a juggling act at best for Denise Fortune.

Each morning, she would take her daughter to day care at 6:30 a.m., then drive to work at Source Interlink, where she has been an analyst for about a year and a half. Her husband would pick Sandra up about 5:30 p.m., then stay home with her until Fortune got home.

"By the time I got home, she would have dinner, and she goes to bed by 8:30 p.m., I saw her for about two hours a day," Fortune said. "I have been trying so many things to find time to spend with her."

The answer came from her employer.

Employee surveys done by Source Interlink's human resources department repeatedly turned up affordable child care as one of the chief issues facing its workers, said James Gillis, president and chief operating officer of the Bonita Springs-based company.

"It was almost impossible for people to find good quality day care in south Lee County at affordable rates," Gillis said. "With the length of the commute to where they were going for day care, it was expensive and adding hours to their day."

They had space available in the company's headquarters in Riverview Center near the Imperial River and U.S. 41. Space that they budgeted for when the company recently expanded its offices by 25,000 square feet.

The planning began a year ago and the day care opened about a month ago. The center is licensed for 25 children from 6 weeks old to age 4. The company already has 16 children, and several other expectant mothers have signed up for the services.

Parents who have their children in the day-care center are thrilled.

"I can have lunch with her, take her home with me and it's $40 cheaper (monthly) than the one I was using in Cape Coral," Fortune said. "If she gets sick, I am right here and if there is ever an emergency at home, she is right here."

Like Fortune, most parents have lunch with their children and many even come see their children during shorter breaks.

Mary Stehle says she likes how much fun her daughter, Megan, is having at day care. The South Fort Myers resident used to start her day at 6:30 a.m. to take her daughter to day care at a church in Fort Myers before coming to work around 8 a.m. She and her husband would trade off picking up Megan. But that meant she had no flexibility in her schedule.

"I absolutely had to be out of the door at 5 (p.m.), and in season the times just didn't work," Stehle said. "Generally we would get home at about 7 p.m., shove food in everyone's faces, take a bath and go to bed so you can do it all over again."

Now she gets to work earlier because she can bring Megan with her. She also gets to see her daughter several times a day, and if she doesn't, Stehle said, she knows Megan is safe and close to her.

"I used to feel there's a choice between my career and family, and this makes it a little easier," she said.

The children have a variety of activities to choose from, including finger painting, playing house, music and reading. They are supervised by Jacquelyn Gillis, who is the daughter of James Gillis, and her staff.

Jacquelyn Gillis, who has a bachelor's degree in government, worked at a home for abused children for more than five years in Connecticut and decided she wanted to keep working with children.

"It took me a whole week to realize I had actually started (the day care)," she said. "But the kids are just great and their parents are so happy with the program."

Company officials say the decision to start a day care center isn't just a good deed; it's good business.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly three in 10 employed women quit their job upon becoming pregnant. And the number of women with infant children who remain in the work force has fallen about 5 percent since 1998. In 2000, 55 percent of mothers with infant children were in the work force, compared with 59 percent in 1998 — the first decline since 1976.

Various studies commissioned by the Census Bureau also show job flexibility and child care at the workplace are two major factors in deciding whether women come back to work.

Source Interlink spent more than $300,000 on the day care center. The company since has received most of it back in after-the-fact grants from county, state and federal governments, James Gillis said.

Even if that hadn't happened, the day care would have been a good investment, he said.
"We have 350 employees here in Bonita Springs and our turnover has been going down consistently," he said. "We want to make the benefits nice enough so people will stay with us."