Catch 22 !

"  Day Care " is the term used to describe what many know as " Child Care " and this is a contradiction of how the modern workplace is evolving.   The vast majority of " Day Car " places are configured on the old nine to five/Monday to Friday working week, although some now offer extended hours.

Finding a place in " Day Care " seems to work on the assumption that once the numbers it is licensed to serve are reached the centre is " full " and further applicants must wait for a vacancy to occur.  The scale of charges are on a full day basis, hence any parent who finds a job on a part time basis will find the gain from this limited employment wiped out by the all day care charges.

The government is considering the option of " pay by the hour " child care and this is certainly necessary if we are to integrate more women into the workforce.   The creation of part time positions now far outstrips the creation of full day long term work as industry moves to cover peak demand spread on a seven day basis.

Most of the business world bases its charges on a time factor.  When we hire a taxi the cost is determined by the time/distance involved in the journey.  Hiring tools from a plant hire company is a cost based on the time factor and what we are buying in a child care centre is a service during our particular time/need.   The only problem is that it is not costed on that basis.

It is probably impractical to insist that all child care services convert to a time charge basis because those in permanent employment need consistency of care, but this idea opens up a rewarding new industry for entrepreneurs to tap into a new business model.   There seems to be demand for both casual and regular child care on a short time basis and at present that demand is not being met.

It is highly likely that meeting that demand will introduce " Catch 22 "  situations.  Because there is a desperate shortage of full time child care place availability, long care need parents will snap up the entire working day schedule availability short term centres offer.  Short term hour charges will probably need a small premium but such is the unmet demand that even this would not stop working mothers using this service while waiting for a long care vacancy to become available.

Short term child care would initially serve women with a permanent work schedule of short term need but would provide availability to casual users just like any other service industry.  For instance, women scheduled to attend a medical appointment with a specialist may prefer to leave their child in care rather than face the prospect of a cranky infant disrupting an event of some importance.  It simply levitates child care into this twenty-first century on a business basis.

One of the problems long care users face is that to secure a permanent place for their child they are charged even when a day is a gazetted public holiday and the centre does not open.  This is contrary to general industry practice where staff holidays and down time is absorbed within the general tariff.  Child care traditionally charges on a " day " rather than an " hourly " basis.

Implementing casual hourly charged child care looks like becoming a new option quite separate from the existing industry.  Providers will need entrepreneurial skills to balance places available against industry needs but this is a service extension that seems natural in our evolving market place.