Lockton—a consulting services company—has released its third annual “Human Resources Trends: A Spotlight on Absence Management” survey. The survey highlights the many challenges—and opportunities—facing employers across the United States.
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Survey results represent more than 265,000 employees across a wide variety of industries. A few of the most significant findings from the survey include:
- While 90% of employers offer some type of paid sick time—either through a standalone benefit or paid time off (PTO) program—the benefit doesn’t always extend to part-time workers.
- A number of companies surveyed don’t provide paid sick leave to part-time employees. Hence, the number of paid sick leave laws at the state, city, and county levels continues to grow rapidly.
- On a more positive note, occasional telecommuting is now offered by 60% of employers—up 12% from last year. An added bonus: the popular work “perk” isn’t limited to companies of a certain size or industry.
- Every industry included in the survey reported employees working outside of the office from time to time, including 71% of healthcare employers, 65% of manufacturing companies, and 58% of transportation employers.
- 44% of small employers (fewer than 100 employees) allow occasional telecommuting, compared to 70% of large employers (5,000+ employees).
- More and more employees are also able to take PTO or vacation time—without waiting months and months. The average waiting period continues to decrease as more employers offer immediate accrual of those benefits.
- Currently, 21% of employers participating in the survey offer different PTO benefits for exempt and nonexempt employees.
- With new overtime rules from the Department of Labor (DOL), employers that offer separate PTO benefits to exempt and nonexempt employees will need to take a closer look at how those benefits are structured—and what the impending changes will mean for employees.
- Finally, while paid parental leave programs have dominated the headlines this past year, only 24% of employers surveyed offer some form of the highly-coveted benefit, and only 13% of those companies provide paid leave for secondary caregivers.
For more information on this survey, click here.