Child care key to best employers

If you want to make workers happy, make their kids happy.

That’s the lesson to be taken from the three Georgia companies on Fortune magazine’s list of top employers.

The child care campus that Alston & Bird operates only a block away from its offices landed the Atlanta-based law firm at No. 13 on Fortune’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

“The facility was expanded this year and now provides day care to 110 children, with subsidized rates for parents in lower-salaried ranks,” Fortune says on its website at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/full_list/.

In ranking Aflac at No. 57, Fortune says the Columbus-based supplemental health insurer “treats employees — two-thirds of whom are women — to on-site child care and occasional half-day pampering binges.”

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta came in at No. 60, earning praise from Fortune for its “generous adoption and fertility benefits.” It also notes that the pediatric health center pays a $1,040-a-year child care subsidy.

For those seeking a better place to work, 51 of the ranked companies reported job growth in 2010, while 45 saw losses. Two reported 0 percent growth, with figures unavailable for two others.

The No. 1 company on Fortune’s list is the software firm SAS, based in Cary, N.C. Like the three Georgia companies, SAS was cited for high-quality child care (at $410 a month). Other amenities that the magazine listed were on-site health care, a summer camp for kids, car cleaning, a beauty salon and a 66,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art gym.

An SAS employee told Fortune “that people don’t leave SAS because they feel regarded — seen, attended to and cared for.”