From the New York Daily News:
Dozens of city workers rallied in Central Park yesterday, demanding the City Council answer a rather unusual question: “You gave horses five weeks of vacation – Why not give humans sick days?”
Why not, indeed?
How to cut business costs by adding benefits
It’s no secret that workplace benefits like paid sick days and paid family leave reduce turnover, boost morale and improve workplace productivity. Not only do these benefits also come at a low financial cost to businesses, but employers who offer them experience a significant economic boost from improved employee productivity and reduced spread of illness.
But human resource managers may find workplace benefits are economically enticing for a different reason:
In the world of business, turnover is both a timely and a timeless concern. Managers are always looking for ways to reduce attrition, because the cost of seeking, hiring, training and assimilating new employees is so high. One recent study determined that organizations lose 17 percent of their pre-tax income to employee withdrawal (a category that includes turnover as well as absence, lateness and withheld effort). Another estimated that the departure of a single experienced professional costs a management and consulting firm more than $1 million.
But the need to control turnover is about to become even more acute, as the baby boomers begin to retire. The American economy is now bracing for what Wendy Harman, 06, a visiting assistant professor of business at UW Bothell, has called “the largest brain drain the world has ever experienced.”
Could improved workplace benefits be the answer? Read more from UW’s Columns magazine: Take This Job and Love It
Paid family leave: U.S. families falling (way) behind the rest of the world
The social (and economic!) value of paid family leave benefits is undeniable. Research indicates more bonding time lowers rates of infant mortality, improves infant health, and has a strong positive correlation to improved access to medical services. And when workers have time to recover from a serious illness or care for an ailing parent, they have higher morale and are more productive when they return to work.
But despite these obvious benefits, the United States has been reluctant to guarantee workers the right to earn parental leave on the job. As the only industrialized nation without a paid maternity leave system, some U.S. states have taken it upon themselves to implement state-level paid family leave insurance programs — allowing workers to earn paid maternity leave. But these benefits are only available in 5 states, and are linked to the ‘disabled status’ of the pregnant women — meaning fathers and adoptive parents are not eligible to earn the benefit.
So what are mothers in the other 45 U.S. states (and American fathers) missing out on? Here’s a quick look at paid leave programs in Sweden, Canada and Australia, compared to that of the U.S. — and Washington State in particular.
Continue reading “Paid family leave: U.S. families falling (way) behind the rest of the world”
Washington Work and Family Coalition 