The company says absenteeism and staff turnover among mothers using the centre have fallen, while trained care workers are providing children with a safe space to learn, play and receive care.ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (ILO News) - At Hilina Enriched Foods, workplace childcare is making a tangible difference for working parents, care workers and the enterprise.Since the company established an on-site daycare centre, mothers using the facility have been missing fewer days of work and are better able to focus on their jobs, according to company management. Staff turnover among these workers has also declined.But the benefits are also being felt by the workers providing the care. For Nesima Aliyi, who works at Hilina’s daycare centre, the job has brought better working conditions as well as an opportunity to develop her skills as a care worker.Before starting work at the centre, Nesima and her fellow care workers received two weeks of training on how to care for children, including how to handle them safely and appropriately. She also values having the equipment and facilities she needs to do her job effectively — conditions she says are better than those she experienced in her previous work. Inside the daycare centre, care worker Nesima Aliyi sees those benefits from another perspective: in the daily routines of the children she looks after. Before starting work at the centre, Nesima and her fellow care workers received two weeks of training on how to care for children with affection and how to handle them safely and appropriately. She says the training, together with a well-equipped facility and improved working conditions, has helped her provide better-quality care.“The children have scheduled time for play, learning and feeding,” Nesima said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to work in a well-equipped facility, where we can provide quality care for children.”For Nesima, decent working conditions are closely linked to the quality of care she can provide. Training, appropriate equipment and a supportive working environment help care workers meet children’s needs safely and consistently throughout the day.“The facility is now fully equipped with everything we need,” she said. “The kids can now play and learn very well.”The kids can now play and learn very well.Her experience highlights an important part of workplace childcare: the quality of care available to working parents also depends on the conditions in which care workers themselves work.Beyond the daycare centre, the facility is also helping address challenges faced by working mothers at Hilina. Demelash Asnake, Admin Manager at Hilina Enriched Foods, said the company established the centre in response to requests from working mothers and through engagement with government institutions, including the Lege Tafo Social Affairs Office, the Women Affairs Office and the Ministry of Industry.Before the centre opened, childcare responsibilities contributed not only to absenteeism but also what Demelash described as “presenteeism”—when workers are physically present at work but struggle to concentrate fully because they are worried about their children.“The mothers were physically present, but their hearts were with their children,” he said, explaining how these concerns affected workers’ ability to focus on their work.Having childcare close to the workplace has helped ease those concerns. According to Demelash, absenteeism among mothers using the centre has fallen sharply, while staff turnover has also declined.For Hilina, supporting workers with family responsibilities is both a social commitment and an investment in a more supportive and productive workplace. Because women often shoulder a disproportionate share of childcare responsibilities, Demelash said, access to workplace childcare can make it easier for mothers to remain in employment while balancing work and family life.Hilina’s experience reflects a broader challenge for workers with family responsibilities in Ethiopia’s agricultural and agro-processing sectors. An ILO-supported assessment conducted in six companies, in collaboration with Partnership for Change (PFC), found that 95.7% of surveyed workers lacked workplace childcare, while 67% were willing to use employer-supported childcare. The findings point to the role that childcare can play in supporting women to remain in employment after childbirth. Hilina’s experience also shows that effective childcare provision depends on investing in the care workforce itself — through training, appropriate facilities and decent working conditions.Through collaboration with the ILO, the Ministry of Industry and PFC, Hilina’s workplace daycare centre offers one practical response: supporting parents to remain in employment, creating better conditions for care workers and providing children with a safe and supportive environment in which to learn, play and receive care.Hilina’s experience reflects a broader challenge for workers with family responsibilities in Ethiopia’s agricultural and agro-processing sectors.About Promoting Workers’ Rights and Gender Equality at Work in Africa – Phase II projectWith support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), ILO has supported efforts in Ethiopia to promote care-responsive workplaces through the Promoting Workers’ Rights and Gender Equality at Work in Africa – Phase II project.By supporting workplace childcare and raising awareness of workers’ rights and family-friendly policies, the project has demonstrated how investing in care can help women remain in employment, improve workers’ well-being, advance decent work for care workers and support employers through reduced absenteeism, staff retention and more productive, inclusive workplaces.