Answer the questions below in a 250-word review of the memo and paper below:

1. Does the introduction clearly announce the topic and engage the reader’s interest? If not, why not? If yes, what is engaging and interesting?
2. Is there a clear sense of purpose throughout the writing? Why or why not?
3. Is the solution effectively presented? Why or why not?
4. Are sources integrated into the proposal? Do they follow the APA format? Are they effective? Why or why not?
5. Is the graphic effective in supporting the proposal idea? Why or why not?
6. How could the author improve the paper? Please offer at least two concrete suggestions.
7. Do you consider this paper to be responsive to the assignment (effective proposal)? If not, what recommendations do you have for making it meet the requirements?
8. Provide additional suggestions or comments.

Proposal Paper:

EXECTUVITE SUMMARY

The following proposal discusses our need for, and the benefits of having daycare at XYZ company. There is only about 11% of companies in the United States that provide childcare (Chen, 2023). We are often shorthanded at work due to employees missing time because of inadequate childcare. Since covid-19 employee turnover due to lack of childcare has increased in our company. We need to implement a daycare facility for our employees’ families, this will decrease unplanned absences and increase overall employee production.

XYZ Company’s employees will show an overall increase in productivity. Lack of adequate childcare affects employees negatively. They often miss work or have concerns with their child’s health. Implementing a daycare will not only give employees ease of mind, knowing their children are taken well care of and in the same building, but in turn will increase their productivity (Modestino, et. Al, 2021). Implementing a daycare at XYZ Company will create a positive image for our company showing just how much XYZ Company cares for its employees.

In the following proposal, I show the benefits of the daycare and the answers to multiple questions of how feasible this can be. I believe that we can increase our employee retention, productivity, and public image with this investment into our employees. At the end of the day, we need to decrease employee turnover and increase employee production. Showing that we care for our employees and their families is the best way to solve these issues.

INTRODUCTION

XYZ Company should invest in its employees and their families. Our Company needs a change that will increase the overall happiness of the vast majority of its employees. Currently our Company does not provide an on-site daycare facility for employee’s children. We need an on-site daycare facility to improve time spent at the office for employees and overall increased productivity. We have had a fair amount of employee turnover at our company. A few of the main reasons for this are not having adequate care for the employee’s families. This will increase employee loyalty, because there is a small percentage of companies that offer daycare to their employees (Chen, 2023) If we are able to implement daycare for our employees we will stand out as a company that cares for their employees above others in our industry. A study conducted by Simon (2020) indicated that having on-site childcare for employees improves employee productivity, lowers employee turnover, and decreases the number of days employees miss work.

BACKGROUND

XYZ Company was founded over 90 years ago, we are a fourth-generation family-owned community bank, serving the Midwest. The company has been growing strong, most of our branches are in South Dakota and Minnesota. While we are still expanding, we are hiring increasingly more young working individuals to help continue the success of XZY Company. We currently have four hundred individuals employed at XYZ Company. According to Simon (2020) 60% of employees in the United States are caregivers, meaning they are responsible for most of the care of someone else. With that statistic that would mean approximately 240 of our employees are caregivers. On average caregivers miss six to seven days of work a year (Simon, 2020). This is many days that are missed by employees due to being a caregiver.

Employees have their vacation days scheduled months in advance, when they have a vacation, they can thoughtfully plan for work that needs to be completed. However, when an employee must miss an unplanned day due childcare, this leaves a gap in productivity, because of the suddenness of such events. Typically, employees do not have arrangements made when their daycare provider calls in sick, therefore it leaves their co-workers scrambling to know what the absentee employee had scheduled. This can cause stress for everyone involved.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Opening an on-site daycare facility will be a challenge. We will start with one branch as a test, to see the if the benefits that other companies gain from this will be the same for our company. The first branch I would like to begin with is my location in Yankton, we have two branches here and approximately eight employees with one or more children. The bank I work at here in Yankton was built on a large basement that would need small modifications but would be ideal size for a daycare facility. The first challenge we will be facing is funding for this. According to Pino (2022) the average person is paying 6,667 dollars for childcare annually. That is approximately $125 a week for daycare. We will restructure the eight employees pay by reducing their pay by $5,000. This will free up around $40,000 to pay a salary to one fulltime care giver. That will just be the beginning of the funds needed. We will also have to invest in daycare items., such as eating tools, toys, furniture, etc. I estimate XYZ Company to have to put in around an additional $40,000 for appropriate equipment, food, and furnishing. We must remember when talking about this that this is an investment in our employees.

XYZ company will offer three different packages for each employee. The first offer will be for families where both parents work fulltime and year-round, so will require five days a week for the full year. In this offer you will have the option to cut your annual salary by $5,000 or around $208.33 per pay period per child. The second offer will be for employees that need childcare during the school year only, such as employees with teachers as a spouse. This offer will give you the option to cut your salary by $3,750 or $156.25 per pay period per child. The third and final offer will be for non-primary caregivers. This would relate to anyone who at times is responsible for providing care to a child. This would be strictly drop ins, and they would have $100 taken out of their pay each time for each child they needed to bring in a child for care. After, surveying the employees in our location, I produced a projection for the first year, showing the funding that will come from the employees rather than the Company. Figure 1 provides an illustration of the survey conducted in the two Yankton branches. Each employee filled out the number of children for the second half of 2023 and first half of 2024 they will need daycare for, they then marked whether this is year-round, school year (part time), or would do the occasional drop in. Figure 1 shows what would be deducted from their paycheck and the number of children we would have in the daycare.

I volunteer to become the head of this project for our Southern Area locations. This includes six locations but will start with only the two locations in Yankton, South Dakota. I am qualified to head this project as I have done the research and understand the money, time, and personal it will take to get this project moving. First, I will collaborate with John Smith, the Chief Financial Officer to get the appropriate funding for this project. Next, I will collaborate with Jane Doe the Senior Human Resource Manager to interview and find qualified individuals to work in the daycare. I am proposing we get the Yankton area up and running first and from there see what other locations would benefit most from an on-site daycare. By starting in just one location, we will be able to react to, and resolve issues. Yankton will be the first location it is a small sample size compared to our Sioux Falls and Minneapolis locations, this will give us a promising idea of how well this will work and the feasibility of them.

Below is a working timeline for the implementation of an onsite daycare.

• Week of June 5^th: develop a committee to help with decision making.
• Week of June 12^th & week of June 19^th: Remodel of basement at Yankton location, to fit the needs of a daycare, we already have a bathroom and kitchen area, will need to set up a playroom and sleeping area for the children.
• Week of June 26^th: Purchasing supplies needed
  • Bedding
  • Plates, bowls, bottles, forks, knives, etc.
  • Toys
  • Activities
• Week of July 3^rd: Release an advertisement for a full time and a part time position
  • Advertisement will include:
    • Daycare License – required
    • Three to five years of experience with children
    • Minimum of High School Diploma
    • Live in Yankton or be able to commute Monday through Friday
    • Strong Communication Skills
• Week of July 10^th: Begin interviewing for both the full time and part time positions
• Week of July 17^th: Higher most qualified individuals
• Week of July 24^th: Plan to open and implement onsite day care by August 1^st.

The two individuals hired, one full time and one part time, will be paid through what the employees with children are deducted. The startup costs along with groceries, will be added to each branch’s budgets. The Company will show less cash for the startup, but with this we should see increased productivity from the employees and less unplanned absences (Gonzales, 2023).

FIGURE 1. Projected daycare year 1

BENEFITS

Employee’s productivity and wellbeing is particularly important to XYZ Company, our employees are the face of the company. This proposal imposes new challenges, such as funding the project, hiring for a new position as the coordinator to oversee the facility. However, in today’s day and age with both parents being working parents, it makes sense to add this facility to help increase productivity and diminish unplanned absences from work (Simon, 2020).

Employee Stakeholder’s viewpoint: The need to keep employees happy and invest in them is crucial in today’s business world. There is a large amount of money spent annually in hiring new employees and training them. There is data to back employee retention and attendance when a company provides onsite childcare (Gonzales, 2023). In the beginning of this project, we will need an influx of funds to get it up and moving, however eventually we should be able to save money with less employee turnover and higher productivity from our employees.

Management Stakeholder’s viewpoint: We need dependable employees which will help save the company money. Implementing an onsite daycare facility will decrease employee turnover, which saves the stress, time, and money for management when it must fill positions. Management has its hands full when it comes to hiring new employees and finding the right fit with hopes they will not jump at the next opportunity that comes there way. We would be the only Bank in Yankton that would offer this benefit to our employees. We would no longer be losing employees to competition because of pay and benefits.

Shopper Stakeholder’s viewpoint: The last benefit of implementing this facility is overall moral for the employees, especially the front line of customer service. Keeping them happy shows directly to our customers. It also backs us as a family-owned business that cares about our employees and their families. Our customers will see how invested our business is in its employees which in turn will be reflected towards our customers as a family ran business, that cares for everyone involved.

CONCLUSION

All successful companies require the best from their employees. XYZ Company needs to fully invest in its employees. With the banking industry in Yankton and the surrounding areas there is multiple opportunities for employees to jump ship. However, implementing this facility will be such a large benefit to our employees. This should decrease employee turnover because no other bank offers this type of benefit. We will continue to lose employees until we have something to offer that no one else in our area currently offers.

According to Gonzales (2023) lack of childcare is costing employers $13 billion a year in lost productivity. Productivity is the key to a successful business and investing in your employees will increase their productivity. In recent years 20% of working parents have had to leave work or decrease the number of hours they were working because of inadequate childcare (Modestino, et.al., 2021). I would love to implement this day care facility as soon as possible for the working parents of XYZ Company. You will be able to see just how valuable this investment in your employees and organization can be.

Once we can move forward with this proposal, I believe that we can have the daycare facility in Yankton up and running no later than August 1^st, 2023. I will start with gathering a committee to get the process moving. This would allow time to get all the appropriate numbers and information ready for your review by June 12^th, 2023. Thank you.
 

Figure 1. Projected daycare year 1 Employee 1 Employee 2 Employee 3 Employee 4 Employee 5 Employee 6 Employee 7 Employee 8 Employee 9 Employee 10 Employee 11 Employee 12 Employee 13 Employee 14 Employee 15 Employee 16 Employee 17 Employee 18 Employee 19 Employee 20 Employee 21 Total Number of Dependents Full Time Care - 12 Months Number of Amount deducted from Pay Dependents 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 2 $ 1 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1 $ 0 $ 0 $ 5 $ 5,000.00 10,000.00 5,000.00 5,000.00 25,000.00 Number of Part Time Care - 9 Months Amount deducted from Pay Dependents 7,000.00 2 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1 $ 1 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 2 $ 0 $ 6 $ 3,500.00 3,500.00 7,000.00 21,000.00 Drop In - $100/day Number of Dependents Amount deducted from Pay 0 $ 1x10 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1x10 $ 3x10 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1x10 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 2x10 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 8 $ 1,000.00 1,000.00 3,000.00 1,000.00 2,000.00 8,000.00 TOTALS 19 $54,000.00