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Now is an ideal time for colleges and universities to increase employee benefits, according to several administrators and consultants speaking here this week at the national meeting of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. .... The need for that flexibility at colleges and universities was clear in data presented by Jan Civian, a senior consultant at WFD Consulting, a company in Newton, Mass., that specializes in work-life balance. According to its research, about 4 in 10 faculty and staff members have a child younger than 18, and 40 percent of assistant professors have a child younger than 6at a time when the parents are striving to earn tenure. About one in 8 faculty and staff members cares for an elderly relative. "Our data show that faculty and staff engagement are strongly correlated with how much support they feel they're getting, and that support negatively correlates with stress and burnout," said Ms. Civian. "Often people are very practical," she said. "They don't need you to spend a lot of money on resources like a child-care center as much as they need flexible work time, which you can do at a low cost."