As if there isn't enough for you to do in November and December, what with your job, family and the busy holiday season, this year the Y2K problem could mean plenty of extra work hours.
If you can't get out of testing or fixing your company's systems or orchestrating contingency plans, there may be a way to squeeze a few extra hours into the day so all that other year-end stuff gets done.
DCC Inc., an education and referral services provider in Westport, Conn., has come up with a service dubbed Y2Kare that lets employers help their information technology employees manage personal responsibilities while fending off Y2K glitches.
Through the Y2Kare program, DCC will arrange for temporary child care or elder care in the evenings or on weekends; find vacation camps for children during school breaks; offer personal shopping, gift wrapping and catering; and provide concierge-type services like picking up dry cleaning.
Employers pay a negotiated rate for the program based on the number of employees and the number of locations covered. IT staff pay discount prices for the services they choose.
Helping Hand
"Our own [company] is going to be requiring our information technology support group to be available 24 hours a day throughout the Y2K transition. That created all sorts of care situations that people need assistance with, so we developed the program," said Peter Burki, CEO of DCC.
The company developed a similar program for The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta to handle the around-the-clock needs of its IT staff during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Coke, American Home Products Corp. in Madison, N.J., and Lucent Technologies Inc. in Murray Hill, N.J., have signed on to the year 2000 program.
Lucent uses similar referral services year-round, mostly for locating child care, according to Joan Fronapfel, work and family programs manager. Employees haven't been called to work during the year-end holidays, but if they are, the Y2Kare program "would definitely benefit them," Fronapfel said.
Industry observers said it's becoming increasingly important to offer Y2K staff perks beyond monetary bonuses.
"Anyone who loses their Y2K staff now is going to be in big trouble," said Stephanie Moore, an analyst at Giga Information Group Inc. in Norwalk, Conn.
Computerworld reporter Barb Cole-Gomolski contributed to this story.
