Reference no: EM133968733

Question

Compose a summary of the post below, "Establishing on-site daycare The need to establish Childcare and all its benefits associated with service members in the force has constantly been on the rise. "DOD is developing an agency-wide system that will provide servicemembers with a central place to request both on-installation and off-installation childcare" (Military Childcare, n.d.). However, the need to take further exception to implanting a Childcare MOS would be a vital investment. Establishing On-post Daycare/Childcare for service members and their families is a significant factor when it comes to the physical, psychological, mental, and financial readiness of soldiers with young ones. Most often, Dual Service members, single parents, and military contracted civilians with children find it difficult to locate affordable and flexible scheduling and quality childcare facilities outside off-post and in the workplace. This problem of childcare issues is especially very depressing and stressful for service members and, hence, the need to establish on-post childcare facilities and possibly introduce a new Military Occupational Specialty(MOS), "Childcare MOS," to support and alleviate the burden and current situation of childcare services needed by service personnel. This will enhance the productive services and inputs, time efficiency, and mental and financial well-being of soldiers struggling with accessing Childcare. After taking a close look into well-analyzed, sorted out, and professional academic sources provided on the topic of Childcare issues related to service members from the Scholarly Journals and the UMGC Library reveals three re-occurring significant topics for discussion, namely: the importance of Childcare at the workplace for service members, the physical and psychological impact of Childcare on soldiers, cost and quality of Childcare, and the impact of Childcare on military retention rates. The need to Establish Childcare services at the Workplace (On-Installation) for Service Members. The mental and physical challenges associated with locating childcare facilities outside of the workplace for service members are particularly demanding tasks. The search for flexible and quality childcare services primarily drives service members from fully meeting their daily planned goals and needs at workplaces in support of the mission. "For parents, the critical aspects of childcare which influence whether they use it are affordability in relation to their earnings; convenience in terms of opening hours and location; and the quality of care the child will receive" (Hein and Cassirer, 2010). When service members are unable to satisfy the need to, most importantly, attain convenient, quality, and flexible opening hours and locations for childcare services, soldiers begin to lose interest and attention to work. However, an established childcare facility for soldiers at the workplace and a childcare MOS will encourage and boost the morale of soldiers, hence improving their work life and productivity at the workplace. Furthermore, the provision of Workplace Childcare for soldiers will eliminate mental stress concerns and any related physical childcare indirect struggles such as poor time management, failure to report for duty on time, and poor training attendance. Moreover, the military must provide childcare facilities and services on base to retain and stabilize most of the expensive and highly skilled/experienced professional service members who are practically hard to come by but are facing childcare issues. "When childcare comes down to a decision between careers and families, families will always win. Yet by the most optimistic measures, only 7% of companies offer any type of childcare relief to their employees, despite the fact it's shown to be an effective recruiting, retention, and productivity tool for working parents - reducing turnover by 35-60%, improving recruiting by 80% and reducing absenteeism by 20%".