Excerpt: Snow days, sick kids, babysitters with the flu, elderly parents who unexpectedly need some short-term assistance: It's not really a secret that situations like these lead to more than a few missed days of work. Yet there are cost-effective steps that employers can take to reduce missed days of work, increase productivity and give a big boost to employee morale all at the same time, say proponents of employer-subsidized in-home backup care.