.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} It’s an all-too-familiar dilemma for working parents: Their regular child-care provider isn’t available on a day when they can’t afford to be away from work.

SafeHands Flex Care, a backup child-care service set to launch next month, will enable Central Iowa businesses to provide their employees with a quality option for emergency child care, says Cherish Anderson, the company’s founder.

Anderson, who four years ago started Nanny2Shoes LLC to connect families with nannies, said her new venture will fill a need that isn’t being addressed in Greater Des Moines. SafeHands will provide its services through a network of more than 100 screened child-care providers she already calls upon to provide fill-in services for her individual clients.

“I’ve known that there’s a demand for corporate-sponsored backup child care,” said Anderson. “Also, when I was working in the corporate world as a mother, I wanted my organization to offer some level of child care as an employee benefit. Now it’s interesting that it’s coming full circle for me, that I am now going to be providing this service to Central Iowa businesses.”

U.S. employers lose an estimated $4 billion a year in productivity due to child-care related absences. On average, working parents miss eight work days each year to care for a child due to illness or unavailability of their regular provider, according to a 2004 survey conducted for CCH Inc., an employment law and human resources research firm.

As more people move for employment opportunities, the support they normally might receive from extended family members for fill-in child care no longer exists, said Paula Hender, public relations chairperson for the Central Iowa Society for Human Resource Management.

“This is where an offering of backup child care could be a benefit for employees,” Hender said. “Employers that have a work force that is typically ‘brought in’ or that relocates frequently may want to consider providing access to this service for their employees.”

Anderson, through her connections in the nanny industry, got to know the owner of Boston-based Parents in a Pinch, which has been offering fill-in child care as a benefit for major corporations on the East Coast for more than 20 years, and hired her as a consultant for SafeHands’ launch.

“She’s just been very beneficial in helping me structure my internal procedures,” Anderson said, “and of course, also in helping to identify potential clients.”

Anderson said she has identified many potential client companies from referrals by her Nanny2Shoes clients who would like to have the service available as a company benefit. SafeHands will provide fill-in child-care services for parents with children from 3 months to 12 years old.

“About 40 percent of our current client base uses our services from a private standpoint to get emergency backup child care,” she said. “They see that their employer is not providing it, so they’re contacting us and saying, ‘Would you please contact my HR department so we can set this up through them?'”

Kathy Humeston, a pharmaceutical sales representative who has used Anderson’s services to hire a nanny for her daughter when she travels for business, said she is hopeful her employer will decide to offer SafeHands’ fill-in care as a company benefit.

“A lot of pharmaceutical companies do provide reimbursement when you travel,” said Humeston, adding that her last employer provided a $100 daily allowance for a child-care provider when they traveled for sales meetings.

A business membership with SafeHands will include a specified number of times a company can use the service for a negotiated annual fee ranging from $400 to $600 per employee per contract year. On average, about 5 percent of a company’s work force will use the benefit, Anderson said.

The child-care provider’s fee, which will range from $10 to $17 per hour depending on the provider’s experience, is paid by the family. The employer would then reimburse the employee based on its policy.

“Some companies will pay 100 percent of the child-care provider’s salary; some will pay 50 percent,” she said. “It really just varies on what the companies are willing to offer. Basically, the company is buying access to the service for the employees.”

Anderson said she hopes to contract with at least 10 companies within her first year of operation, and expand the business from there as its reputation grows.

To spread the word directly with the human resources community, SafeHands will host a booth and a breakout presentation at the Central Iowa Society for Human Resource Management Conference Sept. 26-28 at the Sheraton Inn in West Des Moines.

“We expect an overwhelming response,” Anderson said.