Benefits are often chosen based on their projected macro returns. But the actual value is often felt on a micro level as in the real ability of a real employee to do an important job on a specific day. That was certainly the case for MD Anderson Cancer Center's Fareeda Momin who, late on a weeknight, was getting ready for a big morning work assignment when she suddenly found herself without a nanny. With two premie infants in the next room and an important job on the horizon, her ability to deliver would depend on finding a replacement in a hurry.

"I Need Somebody to Come to My House"

"It's 8:00 at night," said Fareeda, a member of Anderson's HR team. "And I had a couple of calls lined up for the next day." Complicating matters was the fact that her four-month-old twins came home with heart monitors and myriad medical lines and equipment. "I called Bright Horizons, and I said, Hey, I need somebody to come in my house, but heads up, they're premature. There are wires all over them.'" That was at 8pm, she recalled. At 7am the next morning, someone was at her doorstep. For Fareeda, the save was not just an individual success story, but an illustration of why HR champions back-up care at her organization. Healthcare is one of the few industries where absenteeism is literally life or death. So the provision of caregivers at a moment's notice translates to a doctor who can be in an operating room or a nurse who can be by a bedside.

Using Back-Up Care to Max Capacity

"When patients have their surgeries scheduled, of course a doctor can't say to a patient, 'I can't take care of you or do your surgery,'" she said. "MD Anderson," she added, "does utilize Bright Horizons to its max capacity." "I cannot thank them enough for coming through that day," Fareeda said, marveling at the call center's ability to find someone who could handle her daughters' unique medical requirements. "Bright Horizons saved the day."