Who is to babysit when parents are away at work?

While most sectors now have women in their workforce in significant numbers, creches in workplaces are still a rarity, though the law mandates one in every organisation that employs over 50 women. Here is a reality check on how many such facilities there are and how they function

Shravya (name changed upon request) is a government employee working in Vidhana Soudha, the Secretariat located in the heart of Bengaluru. She has two children — a four-year-old son and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, whom she is still breastfeeding. With her 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, Shravya’s primary concern is finding a place to leave her children when she goes to work.

“I usually leave my children with my mother, but since she’s a senior citizen, I feel uncomfortable burdening her. When my mother can’t take care of them, I’m forced to take leave. As a contract employee, I get only 10 days of leave,” Shravya explains.

For working parents like Shravya, finding reliable childcare facilities is a constant struggle. Many people resort to informal arrangements — leaving children with grandparents, asking neighbours to keep an eye on them after school, or enrolling them in extracurricular activities to keep them occupied. However, as familial structures evolve, these solutions have become less reliable, and formal childcare institutions are few and far between.

Legal landscape

According to labour laws in Karnataka, any workplace with more than 50 female employees is required to provide a creche facility. Some corporate companies and tech parks have adhered to this rule, but the same cannot be said for the private sector and government offices. The 2021-22 Budget under the previous BJP government announced that two government offices in each district would establish creches to support working parents.

In response to an RTI filed by The Hindu, the Women and Child Development Department said 30 creches were set up across the State in 2021-22, followed by 59 in 2022-23, and 60 in 2023-24. They are located in the offices of District Commissioners or Chief Electoral Officers and managed by Stree Shakti groups or NGOs.

In Bengaluru Urban district, three creches have been set up — one in the M.S. Building, another in the Police Commissioner’s office, and a third in Banashankari. These facilities accommodate up to 25 children aged six months to six years for a nominal fee of ₹200 per month. They are open to both government employees and those working in the private sector, including daily wage workers.

How they function

Two of these creches are located within a six-kilometre radius of Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru’s central hub of government offices. Besides these, similar facilities are available in the Accountant General’s Office, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company corporate office, and the High Court, though these are restricted to employees of those institutions.

On a weekday afternoon, the M.S. Building creche is bustling with activity. Toddlers are playing, and babies are sleeping in jolis (makeshift cloth cradles) and bunk beds. Some mothers are visiting their children during their lunch break. The large room lacks windows and is dimly lit despite many tube lights.

The creche on the ground floor is quite popular. “I work on the fourth floor, and it’s convenient to come down during my break,” one mother said. Another employee who has been working there for decades reminisced, “I used to leave my children here, and now they’re in college.”

However, for parents like Shravya, the creche’s location is inconvenient. “It takes me 10 to 15 minutes to walk from Vidhana Soudha to M.S. Building. I wouldn’t get enough quality time with my children during lunch, and I wouldn’t have time to eat either,” she says. Also, the creche closes at 5.30 p.m. That is inconvenient because my work often extends beyond that time.

The staff at the M.S. Building creche say they often have to keep the facility open past official hours since most mothers don’t make it on time. The teacher and two attendants in the creche say they are underpaid for the work they do. The government’s allocation for food is also not sufficient, they say.

In contrast, the creche at the Police Commissioner’s office on Infantry Road, established just a year ago, is well-lit and better-ventilated. It offers slides, building blocks, and mats for children to play on. “We get around six to eight children daily, mostly from the police department, General Post Office, and nearby offices. We teach them for some time and engage them in games,” an employee said.

Limited awareness

Despite these efforts, many working women in the CBD are unaware of the creche facilities available to them.

Chandrika, a contract employee at a government office in Cubbon Park, says, “I, like most women I work with, leave my children with grandparents or at private creches. Of late, we’ve had safety concerns, especially for our daughters. If nothing else, we can at least trust that our children will be safe in government-run creches. It’s strange that we don’t even know they exist.”

These are also, importantly, a far more affordable option for her.

Corporate creches 

In corporate settings, the management and maintenance of creches are often outsourced. There are three common models, according to service providers.

“One model is wherein the company fully sponsors the creche as part of employee benefits,” said Preeti Bhandary, Co-Founder and Director of Curriculum, Little Elly, who runs daycare centres in a few tech parks. “A second model is the company offers a partially subsidised creche. The company bears a portion of the childcare cost, and the parents pay a reduced fee. The third model is wherein parents pay the full cost, but the company facilitates access.”

Some companies collaborate with nearby daycare centres to benefit their employees. “We launched a daycare policy in 2022, offering gender-neutral creche services. Nearly 100 working parents have utilised it,” said Kanisha Raina, Vice President of Human Resources at Fiserv. “We have negotiated special offers at daycare centres near our offices. Our Embracing Parenthood programme, initiated in 2021, aids new parents in their transition back to work.”

The creches in tech parks or around companies are often more flexible with pick-up and drop-off timings. They cater to employees working night shifts as well.

“Some of the creches are equipped with a range of amenities to ensure the well-being and comfort of the children. They include a nursing room, feeding room, kitchen, dedicated play areas with toys, classrooms, and a sleeping room,” says Benjamin Lin, President of Delta Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., which has an on-site creche with no fees.

While larger companies provide such facilities, employees at smaller firms face greater challenges, often without a stable childcare support system. This sometimes leads to women dropping out of the workforce.

“While breastfeeding our children, the lack of a nursing room puts us in a difficult spot. At such times, we have to prioritise our children over our jobs, forcing us to take a break for a couple of years. There is no guarantee we will get our jobs back, let alone a decent salary package,” said Namratha (name changed), a software engineer.

Experts say that childcare benefits are one of the most effective tools for companies to attract and retain top talent, particularly among working mothers.

“Research shows that offering these benefits can be a cost-efficient strategy in the long run,” says Pooja Sharma Goyal, Founding CEO of The Udaiti Foundation, which works on women’s economic empowerment organisation. “By providing onsite childcare or partnering with local childcare providers, companies can reduce absenteeism and turnover, ultimately leading to significant cost savings. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 44% of employees stated they would consider switching jobs for access to childcare benefits.”

Harder for the poor

Childcare is a far bigger challenge for lower-middle-class parents, who often work in informal sectors with no structured support or in spaces where labour regulation is lax. Though anganwadis are meant to take care of children up to six years of age, there are too few, just around 3,000 centres in a bourgeoning city like Bengaluru. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has also set up 93 ‘shishu vihaaras’ in its older wards which are open for the public. No such centres have been set up in the newly-added wards.

“There is an anaganwadi centre near my house, but looking at its conditions, I do not like to send my daughter there. I accept work in fewer houses so that I can be home by the time she comes back from school. When she has a holiday or is not well, my neighbours take care of her until I finish my work and get back as I have no other options. Even private creches are not available in our area,” said Mangala, a domestic worker from Singanayakanahalli.

In garment factories, where the workforce is predominantly female, creches are often inadequate. “Though many factories have had creches for years, the facilities improved only after a tragic incident in 2014 when a child died in one. Even now, in a factory where there are 2,000 to 3,000 women, creches only admit 20 children,” said Prathiba R., president of the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU). “Although legally, creches have to admit children aged between six months and six years, many don’t admit children who are less than one year or over three years old.”

Need for stronger policies

Working parents emphasise the need for stronger childcare policies and better implementation of the existing laws.

“The law says that any workplace with over 30 women employees should have a creche. But in most of our government offices, this has not been included in the planning. While it is not possible to establish them everywhere now, we will definitely look into how we can help working parents,” said Santosh Lad, Labour Minister, Karnataka.

Published - October 11, 2024 07:35 am IST