Company pays cost of child care during employee business trip

Business travelers who work for Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly don’t pay for extra child care during business trips; the organization does. Or, if the employee prefers, the child can go on the trip, too—on the company dime.

If the employee needs to find day care for the traveling child during the trip, Lilly springs for that, too, up to $100 a day. Same goes if an employee has to work during unscheduled hours.

In fact, the company overpays for care so employees recoup all expenses after they have paid taxes on the benefit. Example: If the employee spends $1,000 for child care during a trip, Lilly reimburses her about $1,300, which covers expenses plus taxes.

The 10-year-old benefit puts parents and nonparents “on equal footing in terms of opportunities … no matter what their dependent care needs are,” Carlos Campoy, director of global workforce diversity, says.

In the first half of 2008, about 50 of the company’s 20,000 employees used the benefit, costing the company an average of $300 per trip.

Contact: Carlos Campoy, director of global workforce diversity, at (317) 276-2000.