|
Privet, comrades!
Some news to share.
The "2008 National Study of Employers," brought to you by the folks at the Families and Work Institute, recently reported that "employers with more women and more minorities in top positions, and nonprofits organizations, are more likely to offer flexible workplaces." Not exactly shocking, seeing as women are often most in need of flexibility, so they can bear the heavier load of household responsibilities they continue to shoulder, and non-profits aren't, well, exclusively concerned with profits. The question is, how do we encourage more traditional companies to offer flexible policies? Ban profit-making and place women and minorities at the head of everything! Kidding.
It also appears that employers are offering less and less when it comes to traditional benefits like pensions, retirement plans, and health insurance coverage. If this happened in Europe, you can be sure people would take to the streets (even high school kids do! see picture from Paris). American employers need not worry about protest-induced bull-horns and traffic jams, but they should worry about the dwindling worker pool and how to best attract and retain new workers.
Highlights from the report:
On the Rise
- Flexibility: 79% of employers now allow at least some employees to periodically change their arrival and departure time, up from 68% in 1998.
- 38% of organizations allow some employees to take sabbaticals (paid or unpaid leaves of six months or more) and return to a comparable job.
- Maternal Benefits: More employers are providing private space for breastfeeding women in 2008 (53%) than in 1998 (37%).
- Domestic Partners: Employers are more likely to provide health insurance for unmarried partners of employees—31% in 2008, compared with 14% ten years ago.
On the Decline
- Part-time to full-time tracks: 47% of employers today allow at least some employees to move from full-time to part-time work and back again while remaining in the same position or level, down from 57% in 1998.
- Maternal Benefits: Far fewer employers provide full pay during the period of maternity-related disability, today at 16%, down from 27% in 1998.
- 22% of employers offer more than the 12 weeks of mandated maternity leave, yet 18 to 21% of all employers surveyed appear to be out of compliance with FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act).
- Health Care Premiums: Only 4% of employers pay all of the premiums for family members today, compared with 13% in 1998.
- Overall, 35% of employers report increasing employees' premium co-pays for individual and family health care coverage in the past 12 months.
- Pension & Retirement Plans: 29% offer defined pension plans in 2008 compared with 48% in 1998.
- Employers in 2008 are less likely (81%) than employers in 1998 (91%) to make contributions to employees' retirement plans.
The NSE is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is downloadable at www.FamiliesandWork.org.
- Vetta
|
