Employers Should Update Rules for Unscheduled Time Off

 

State legislation that would require employers to provide paid sick leave passed the Assembly late last month. But although the governor most likely will veto the business-opposed bill if it passes the Senate, the colossal challenge of managing unscheduled absences remains. Employers want healthy employees and high morale, but they also need to remain productive, discourage workers from "playing hooky" and maintain consistency.

Two-thirds of instances where U.S. employees call in sick are for reasons such as childcare, errands and other personal life needs, according to a survey of 317 human resource executives taken last fall. As talent remains difficult to find and retain, against a backdrop of shifting workplace demographics and increasing demand for flexibility from younger workers, employers should not overlook the importance of a solid and effective sick leave policy.

"What's going on today is that people need to manage both personal and work responsibilities at the same time," says Sandy Burud, chief strategy officer of FlexPaths LLC, a workplace flexibility Web software provider based in Monrovia. "There's a new way of thinking about this." 

Not Your Grandfather's Workplace

Gone are the days when it was status quo for Mom to stay home with the kids while Dad worked outside of the home as the sole breadwinner. This is not a new trend, of course, but some say employers are just now adjusting to this new reality.

"There has been this change with working families and single parents. Often they have legitimate reasons, but they're not sick themselves. We see more employers taking a more liberal approach," says George Faulkner, principal and consultant with Mercer LLC in Princeton, New Jersey. 

Traditional sick leave is outdated and difficult to manage, Burud says, and often forces employees to lie when they have a family emergency or just personal business that otherwise would not get done. She says most unscheduled absences simply are the result of the contemporary family structure: "Most families don't have an adult at home during the day."   

On top of those changing demographics is the emergence of a new generation of workers demanding a more progressive approach to unscheduled leave, Burud says. As much as 85% of workers under the age of 30 actively seek out employment with companies that provide more flexibility in terms of how, when and where they work in general, she says, which includes the way unscheduled absences are managed.

In fact the preferences of today's younger workers for more independence in their careers, as HR consultant Roberta Chinsky Matuson explains, is having a direct impact on which companies are winning the war for talent.

"It's a whole new world. We thought the Gen. X-ers were radical, but they're nothing compared to the liberties the Gen-Y workers demand," says Matuson, principal of Human Resource Solutions, based in Northampton, Mass. "You have to change with the times."

The 21st Century Sick Leave Policy

So what works? It depends on company culture, the kind of work being done and the size of the business, among other factors; but Oakland-based HR manager Frances Laskey says the combination of vacation and sick days into a single bank of up to 25 allowable days off works for her company. Since employees decide for themselves how they use their personal leave, she says, the policy keeps everyone honest.

"It really cuts down on people calling in sick when they're not. If you wake up and can't drag yourself out of bed, we say to just call in and say you're not coming in," says Laskey, HR director and information technology manager of Berkeley Policy Associates, who says she once called in "ugly" after splitting her lip playing softball.

Commonly referred to as personal time off, California labor law treats it as accrued vacation time, which means it must be paid out as compensation upon an employee's termination. In contrast, strictly designated sick leave allowances are not considered compensation and may expire if left unused. Some say the personal time off policy can backfire when a worker uses up all of their leave for a prolonged illness or family needs and is thus unable to take a real vacation.

Laskey says no one has yet lost the ability to take a vacation as a result of excessive non-vacation use, but Burud says such personal time off policies usually result in parents taking leave "in a way that is unhealthy for them," and failing to get themselves rested and relaxed. Burud doesn't offer a specific alternative to the sick leave policy, per se, but instead promotes the idea of allowing employees to telecommute and time-shift whenever possible, while holding them accountable for broader goals.     

Allowing for the aforementioned bank of personal time off is "the best way to go," according to Rob Gardner, Pleasanton-based regional vice president of staffing firm Robert Half International. Robert Half conducted a survey nearly three years ago, finding that more than half of U.S. workers come into the workplace when they are legitimately ill. Since sick employees can infect other workers, hurt productivity and in some cases raise safety concerns (i.e. food service), Gardner says it is crucial that employers form a trusting relationship with their workers so they are not discouraged from calling in sick when appropriate.

"People who are sick should be staying home. I think managers should encourage individuals to stay home when they're sick," Gardner says. "It's a trust factor."

Matuson agrees, and says companies should do away with requirements for physician's notes and generally should trust their employees or else hire workers they can trust. Still, employers have a vested interest in knowing their employees are being honest, Faulkner says. Vacation generally is planned in advance, he says, so even a paid time off policy should track the number of unplanned absences, which are especially hard on small businesses with small headcounts and less redundancy among the ranks. 

But as Gardner points out, mutual trust and clear communication between employees and management should eliminate abuses or perceptions of abuse.

A Legal Perspective on Sick Leave

As discussed earlier, a paid time off policy that does not differentiate between sick leave and vacation time - the policy preferred by most sources in this article - results in more compensation for employees, legally speaking.

"Some employers say they don't care why the person is gone, they just call it a singular paid time off policy. But the labor commissioner treats it all like vacation, which in California is payable as wages upon termination," says attorney Christina Kotowski, of counsel with Fisher & Phillips LLP in San Francisco.   

Current California law does not require employers to provide a single minute of sick leave, Kotowski says, but she acknowledges the importance of a fair sick leave policy in the competition for talent. And as with other aspects of California's labyrinthine labor code, Kotowski says, there are many things employers often don't know with respect to sick leave.

For instance, state law says that any company with a sick leave policy must allow its employees to use up to half of the annually allotted time to care for a sick child, parent, spouse, registered domestic partner or the child of a registered domestic partner, she says, citing California Labor Code section 233.

Also, businesses are allowed by state law to put a cap on vacation or personal time off accruals, Kotowski says, to prevent employees from accruing months and months of vacation time that the company, particularly a small business, might not be able to cover all at once.  

But whatever policy is enacted should be put into writing in the employee handbook, which Kotowski says helps maintain consistency and fairness. Scott Hauge, president of Small Business California, says a written policy also helps companies keep employees in check.

"Every employer should have an employee manual," says Hauge, based in San Francisco. "If you don't have a manual and someone has a track record of taking every fifth Wednesday off, you can't do much about it."