Paid Leave Options

Do you know which benefits your employees value? Employees often list health insurance and a retirement plan among their most desired benefits, but paid time off is also important in today's pressurized work environment.

A Changing Benefit

Companies offer paid time off to employees for sickness, vacation, maternal/paternal leave and personal reasons. While a newer trend is to offer a bank of days and let employees take time off for any of the qualifying reasons, others still structure time off by event, such as sickness or vacation.

Sick Time

Employers typically offer this perk as a set number of paid sick days, or they may offer insurance to pay for the time off. Insurance is more likely to be involved when employees need longer absences due to disability from an illness or injury.

Vacation Time

While most employers still offer an average of 10 to 20 days of vacation, typically based on seniority, a growing number of companies offer unlimited paid leave options. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Project: Time Off, workers tend to take 10 to 14 days annually, leaving several days unused. Knowing many employees don't take their full vacations, it's not surprising that the newest vacation trend — unlimited time off — hasn't resulted in a flood of workers taking off indefinitely. A refreshed and renewed workforce may mean more productive employees, so encourage them to take the time off they — and your company — need.

Parental Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act ensures that eligible parents who work for employers with at least 50 employees can take up to 12 weeks off. While federal law doesn't require paid leave, some local jurisdictions mandate it. There are eligibility requirements and leave must be for qualified reasons.

Paid Time Off — Period!

Some companies combine all time off into one basket. For example, a company might offer 30 days' time off for any qualifying reason, including health, vacation and personal reasons. This contrasts to the old approach where the same company might have offered 10 vacation days, seven sick leave days and one or two personal days.

Talk to an employee benefits specialist to learn how you might structure time off and other benefits to attract and retain skilled workers.