Major Pulaski County Company Helping to Address Child Care Issues
BraunAbility Brings Employer Perspective to Coalition
When the Pulaski County Quality Childcare Coalition began recruiting members last year, BraunAbility was an obvious choice. As a global leader in mobility transportation solutions and one of the largest employers in Pulaski County, BraunAbility contributed valuable insight into the local child care landscape through their employees.
Katy Ruff of BraunAbility was quick to join the coalition and brought a unique perspective from her role as a human resources assistant. Professionally, she has seen first-hand the effects on the workforce when employees struggle with child care challenges. Personally, as a mom of three young children, Ruff was directly impacted when a child care program her family was attending closed unexpectedly last year.
“I’ve gone through that experience of losing child care and scrambling to figure out how we’re going to manage,” Ruff said. “And then seeing from the human resources side how much child care impacts our team – there were a lot of reasons why our company was very interested in supporting the coalition.”
The BraunAbility human resources team and the coalition discussed challenges employees face, including availability and affordability of high-quality care. Ruff notes that the company experiences issues with turnover and absenteeism that are directly linked to child care – a problem that became exacerbated when two primary child care programs in the area closed, impacting nearly 150 children. “We have a lot of parents who go out on leave and can’t find child care,” Ruff said. “A parent or caregiver could end up having to leave the company because they just don’t have anyone to care for their kids when they’re ready to return to work.”
Ruff is excited about the coalition’s progress since the group began meeting in late 2023 and is optimistic about future impact. At a recent planning retreat, one group focused on workforce development, envisioning the creation of a high school to college pathway for students interested in early childhood education careers. Another group tackled relationship building and a third group focused on vision planning. The coalition used those three guiding areas to build a multi-year strategic plan with key milestones.
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Ruff sees BraunAbility as an employer partner that is in it for the long haul, highlighting a strong and involved leadership team that understands the value and importance of child care. The Community Foundation of Pulaski County recently received $750,000 through FSSA’s Employer-Sponsored Child Care Fund, and one of the award stipulations was that local employers commit funding to help sustain the initiative. BraunAbility was one of the companies that provided the financial commitment needed to secure the grant.
Ruff and senior human resources director Kasey Zimpfer are both coalition members, with Ruff also serving on the core team. Outside of the coalition, BraunAbility continues to evaluate additional avenues to support employees and their families.
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“It’s incredibly important to our leadership that we make sure our team members are taken care of, and that means putting a lot of things in place to support our team members mentally, physically and with their families as well.”
Katy Ruff Human Resources Assistant at BraunAbility
