HR Management & Compliance

SHRM Promotes New Workplace Flexibility Policy

This content was originally published in July 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide.

In late spring, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) launched a comprehensive public policy campaign to promote workplace flexibility.

As part of this campaign, SHRM is proposing a “21st Century workplace flexibility policy” that it says “meets the needs of both employers and employees by enabling employees to balance their work and personal needs while providing predictability and stability to employers.” The SHRM public policy statement was developed in consultation with the society’s members, survey efforts, focus groups, and input from several Special Expertise Panels and State Legislative Directors.

Under the SHRM proposal, employers would be encouraged to provide paid leave for illness, vacation, and personal days to accommodate the needs of the employee and his or her family members. In return, employers who choose to provide paid leave would be considered to have satisfied federal, state, and local leave requirements.  

The Data Behind the Proposal

In support of its proposal, SHRM offered substantial data gathered as part of the organization’s comprehensive surveys. SHRM’s survey results show that to help balance work, family, and personal needs, many employers are already voluntarily providing paid sick, personal, vacation, and maternity leave for employees.

According to the SHRM 2008 Employee Benefits Survey, 74 percent of employers offer paid sick leave, 82 percent of employers offer paid vacation leave, and 15 percent offer paid maternity leave outside of what is covered by a short-term disability benefit.

Recently, more employers have offered Paid Time Off (PTO) plans in lieu of other employer-sponsored paid leave programs. These plans typically combine all common leave benefits (vacation, sick leave, holidays, and personal days) into one leave program that can be used in any circumstance by the employee. According to the SHRM 2008 Employee Benefits Survey, 60 percent of employers offer PTO plans to their employees.

Summary of SHRM Proposal

For a 21st Century workplace flexibility policy to be effective, SHRM believes the policy must meet the following principles:

Flexible Paid Leave—SHRM supports a new approach to providing employees with paid leave that reflects different work environments, industries, and organizational size. This paid leave approach should support employees in balancing their work and family obligations, and at the same time, provide certainty, predictability, and stability to employers in sponsoring the program.

This program would operate much like a PTO plan, with an employer providing a guaranteed standard block of flexible paid leave to the employee that can be used for any leave purpose. Under this proposal, leave would be subject to the notice requirements and parameters of the employer’s policy, including requirements for the employee to use their annual leave.

Alternatively, an employer may permit an employee to roll over a capped portion of the unused accrued leave benefits from one year to the next or receive the benefits in the form of a contribution to a retirement or flexible spending account. An employer that met the requirements of this program would be exempt from mandated federal, state, and local leave requirements.

Flexible Work Arrangements—Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) allow an employee to alter the time and/or place when/where work is conducted on a regular basis, consistent and predictable with the employer’s operations. SHRM believes public policy should encourage and support employer efforts to create and implement FWAs.

Telecommuting—Allowing employees to telecommute can be beneficial for both employers and employees. SHRM recognizes that while telecommuting will not be practical for all employees or all employment situations, SHRM believes that public policy should support and encourage telecommuting. However, employers should have the right to determine which employees or employment situations make telecommuting practical.

Paid Leave Mandates—SHRM generally opposes any form of government mandate for paid leave benefits, including benefits funded through state insurance funds, as the Society believes that employers, not the government, know the benefit preferences of their employees. HR professionals traditionally work to tailor leave programs that meet the needs of their employees and employers. SHRM has concerns with proposals that implement a “one-size-fits-all” paid leave mandate.

Family and Medical Leave Act—SHRM believes that improvements to the Act’s definitions and notice requirements would reduce administrative and compliance problems for employers and HR professionals who are complying with FMLA requirements. Although supportive of the goals of the FMLA, the Society opposes expansion of the Act at this time.

Compensatory Time—The Fair Labor Standards Act limits employee flexibility because it prohibits private sector employers from offering PTO as compensation for working overtime hours. SHRM believes that private sector employees should be afforded the same flexibility that public sector employees have in having a choice of compensatory time or overtime pay.
For more information, see SHRM’s Government Affairs site.

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