Federal law does not require leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act to be paid, but one in five companies today offer paid family leave — down from one in four companies that reportedly offered it from 2010 to 2012, according to research from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Instead, SHRM reports, there is a rise in the number of organizations offering a paid time off plan, which combines traditional vacation time, sick leave and personal days into one comprehensive plan. Under PTO plans, employees have more freedom and flexibility in managing their leave — and 58 percent of organizations, compared to 47 percent in 2010, now offer this type of plan, according to 2014 Employee Benefits: A Research Report by SHRM.
“Compared to five years ago, more organizations are offering paid time off plans, which would allow their employees to better budget their time out of the office,” said SHRM researcher Christina Lee.
Nineteen percent of organizations offer family leave above required federal FMLA (12 weeks of unpaid annual leave) and 16 percent provide family leave above any state FMLA, according to the 2014 SHRM report.
In addition, a similar but smaller percentage of company respondents reported offering parental leave above state (11 percent) and federal (13 percent) FMLA requirements, while 8 percent offered elder care leave above both state and federal requirements.
However, SHRM noted a downward trend from 2013 with regard to employers that offer more leave than required by federal and state law.
“The main significant trends [in the Employee Benefits report] are that fewer organizations are offering family leave, elder care leave, and parental leave above state and federal FMLA leave compared to 2013,” said Lee.
Leave Benefits Over Time
SHRM survey results show a decrease in the percentage of organizations offering paid personal days, paid vacation cash-out options and paid vacation and sick leave donation programs in 2014 compared to 2010.
For example, 29 percent of organizations reported offering paid personal days in 2010 versus 22 percent in 2014. Moreover, paid vacation leave donation programs have decreased from 17 percent of companies offering them in 2010 to just 6 percent in 2014.
A paid vacation cash-out option has seen a similar decline in benefits offerings, with a 10-percent drop since 2010 (from 18 percent to 8 percent), according to SHRM survey respondents.
Paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave all have seen a 5-percent decline since 2010, with 12 percent of organizations offering other than what is covered by short-term disability or state law.
By comparison, paid military leave has remained a relatively steady benefit for the last five years with 23 percent of companies offering beyond what may be required by state law.
Survey Methodology
SHRM reports that 3,867 survey e-mails were successfully delivered, and 510 HR professionals responded, yielding a participant response rate of 13 percent.
Seventy-two percent of respondents represented organizations with 100 or more employees, half of which (36 percent) have 100 to 499 employees.
Fifty percent of respondents work for privately owned, for-profit organizations, 22 percent non-profit, 17 percent publicly owned, for-profit firms, 8 percent government agencies and 3 percent other.
Nearly 50 percent of respondents represented the following industries: manufacturing (19 percent), professional, scientific and technical services (16 percent) and health care and social assistance (13 percent).