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Anything we can do for our kids is going to benefit our city and our country. [Having] flex time would be beneficial because a lot of times I miss going to a PTA or going to a meeting with my kids. Or I didn’t make it and my wife had to, even though I wanted to go. Somebody had to go to work and somebody had to miss work.
- Security Guard
A Better Balance, a legal and policy advocacy organization devoted to improving work/life balance for families across class lines, has recently released a report, “A Working Balance: Supporting New York City’s Families Through Paid Leave.” The project was a joint effort with the Manhattan Borough President’s Office in an effort to understand the role of paid family leave policies on working adults with family responsibilities in New York City.
The report is based on two focus groups—an admittedly not statistically significant approach, but one that often produces rich and insightful narratives (and one that we at The Lattice Group rather fancy, of course). One group consisted of working adults with family responsibilities who have limited access to paid leave, sick days or flexible work policies. The eight participants included one security guard, four restaurant workers, two administrative assistants and a director of a small non-profit. The first focus group generated the following findings: - Employees occasionally need time off from work to manage urgent family needs.
- Employees who come to work despite being sick or having sick family members are less productive and can decrease the productivity of others.
- Providing paid leave benefits and flexible work schedules will better protect an employer’s investment in their employees.
- Employees widely support and need paid time off in order to make better decisions regarding their families’ care.
- The cost of employees taking unpaid sick days can be far greater than the loss of pay for those occasional days; it can mean suspension, loss of a more desirable shift, loss of health insurance coverage or loss of their jobs.
- Employees and employers view New York State’s current Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefit of up to $170 a week as inadequate compensation.
The second focus group consisted of employers: one human resource personnel from a government agency, four from non-profit organizations, and two small business owners.
- By offering strong salary and benefit packages, employers seek to create a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining top talent.
- Employers recognize the connection between strong benefits, apostitive work culture and fostering mutual trust with employees.
- Employers want to adopt policies that better support their employees, but must consider the financial impacts of such decisions first.
- Government-sponsored paid leave benefits would protect workers and employers, while alleviating undue financial pressures experienced by both groups.
The report makes the following three City level recommendations:
- 1. The City should pass the Temporary Disability Insurance expansion bill.
- 2. Implement paid sick days for all workers in New York City.
- 3. The City should Implement paid parental and family leave policy for all municipal workers, thereby leading by example.
What you can do:
- If you’re a New York, contact your City Council and State Legislature and urge them to expand TDI.
- Or, hope you and your fellow New Yorkers never get sick or want to have a family.
- Vetta
photo by storm crypt on flickr.com under creative commons license.
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