More than 9,500 children in Hamilton County live in households with financial difficulties.
These so-called ALICE families – an acronym that stands for asset-limited, income-constrained and busy – earn more than the federal poverty line, which is about $31,000 for a family of four, but still struggle to afford basic needs and receive little welfare. They often work two or three full-time jobs and still have no financial safety net in the event of a crisis.
(READ MORE: As 38% of Hamilton County families struggle to cover expenses, employers are urged to adopt family-friendly practices to help workers)
“ALICE faces stressful, almost impossible decisions every day,” Lesley Scearce, CEO of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, told the audience during a summit on working families Tuesday morning. “Do I buy that medicine or do I take the clothes to the laundromat and do my kids’ laundry? Or do I fix that flat tire to get to work or do I buy baby formula? Or do I put food on the table or do I pay the electric bill?”
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / In 2022, Lesley Scearce, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, speaks at the United Way’s Market Street location.To survive, meaning to earn just enough to pay the bills, a household of two adults and two children in Hamilton County needs to bring home $66,984 a year, according to data from the United Way of Greater Chattanooga. To be stable, meaning to save money, the same family needs to earn $113,400 a year, according to the United Way.
2022 figures show that about a third of Tennessee households fall into this risk category, which is why leaders at the United Way of Greater Chattanooga are urging local businesses to implement creative workplace policies aimed at helping families succeed.
These measures can take many forms. Each year, Scearce says, about 70 percent of women who leave the workforce say they would have stayed if they had the flexibility and opportunities of a family-friendly workplace.
Scearce said one idea is to introduce a three-day, 12-hour work schedule at local manufacturers to give families more flexibility. Another option is to introduce a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift so parents can drop their children off at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.
Other companies have simply looked for ways to ensure employees are aware of their existing benefits, which sometimes go unknown and therefore unused. EPB, for example, hosts an employee benefits fair to ensure employees are aware of their options, Scearce said.
Another major obstacle is the lack of affordable child care. Danielle Whitworth Barnes, CEO and president of the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, told attendees that the average wage for a worker in Tennessee is $51,000, while the cost of infant care in the state is nearly $11,000.
“When you hear these conversations about the impact of child care, it becomes clear that this is real,” Barnes said. “These are people who are working — have good jobs — and still can’t afford child care.”
Some employers have managed to find a middle ground. The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, for example, built its own daycare center, and 70 percent of the children there are employees. It serves children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. But in-house daycare centers are expensive, Barnes says. They typically cost between $1 million and $5 million to build.
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Other employers have chosen different approaches. Bank of America gives its elderly parents up to 40 days off for childcare and parental care, and also offers employees access to resources and referrals for services, Barnes said. Plummer, a water engineering company in Texas, gives young parents 80 hours of additional paid leave, and caregivers can receive a $3,000 retention bonus if they return to work at least 24 hours a week.
Danny Nelms, CEO of the Work Institute, an organization that studies worker behavior, said about 40 million people voluntarily quit their jobs each year, about a quarter of the 165 million workers in the United States.
“That’s a quarter of the U.S. workforce that says, ‘The grass is greener somewhere else,'” Nelms said. “And I have to say, in many cases, the grass is greener for working families because they see what their employers aren’t doing to help them succeed.”
Competition for employees is fierce, making it imperative for employers to create a favorable environment for working families.
“I believe this target group can really help companies,” he said.
(READ MORE: Study shows Hamilton County parents lose $60 million annually due to inadequate child care options)
Fallon Clark, a talent acquisition specialist, has worked at Airgas for about three years. Her position is fully remote, which has allowed her to be there for her now 19-year-old son during his 11th and 12th grade years.
“I didn’t realize at first how much I had missed because I was always at work,” Clark told the audience during a panel discussion. “This play was spectacular.”
Clark said she plans to bring EPB’s idea for an employee benefits fair back to her company.
“I know firsthand that we have a wealth of resources that employees just don’t know about,” Clark said. “Sometimes as an employee, you’re in survival mode. You don’t think about the resources that the company might be providing you with.”
Contact David Floyd at [email protected] or 423-757-6249.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / In 2023, DeMorian High, 12, blows water through a pool noodle to get friends wet at the Chambliss Center for Children during its annual pool party sponsored by Tennessee American Water. The center is a nonprofit organization that provides 24/7 child care and other services to local families.
