IFC Senior Private Sector Specialist Henry Sanday

The need for quality, affordable and accessible child care service is in high demand in Fiji.

A recent study conducted by the International Finance Corporation shows that almost three-quarters of parents in the private sector and half in public sector loses a lot of working hours due to the lack of quality child care services.

Fiji National Provident Fund Human Resource Manager Ravinesh Krishna says they’ve recognized the need for having proper childcare service.

“We quickly realize that there is an issue in that area and at the same time IFC came on board with a survey on child care. We participated and we found out that these issues are real and we have employees where the lost days are based on child care. We have seen that there were loss of productivity because the parents take leave due to no one is looking after the kids or they have poor child care facilities.”

Providing quality childcare services has been recognized as an area of interest by the government and the Fiji Human Resource Institute is urging the private sector to play their part.

IFC Senior Private Sector Specialist Henry Sanday says having flexible working hours and appropriate work adjustments can help avoid loss incurred by companies.

This will cost businesses by using available information, we at IFC estimated an indicative cost of $1000 per employee is lost as a result of challenges with child care. This cost could potentially be higher.

The IFC report highlights that collaboration between government and private sector can and have yielded sustainable results and a range of benefits in other countries, and Fiji has the potential to achieve the same.