In pursuit of paid leave parity
Balancing the changing leave needs of a diverse workforce with the company’s financial targets and policies is a difficult act.
One solution could be the introduction of a carers policy and one which is audited regularly to compare with existing statutory entitlements.
If possible, quantify the degree to which any contractual commitment exceeds the statutory amount.
For example:
| Allowance type | Organisation's allowance | Statutory | Variance from statutory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual leave | 25 days + 8 public holidays | 28 days | +17.9% |
| Maternity pay (based on average salary of £40k) | 6 months full pay + 3 months half pay +£25,000 | 90% salary for 6 weeks + £184.03 for 33 weeks = £10,216 | + 144.7% |
| Sick pay (based on average salary of £40k) | 4 weeks at full pay + statutory sick pay for 24 weeks = £5,871 | 28 weeks at £116.75 = £3,269 | +79.6% |
An organisation that pays enhanced parental leave, but only statutory sick pay could be perceived as showing favour to one demographic over another.
While this isn’t a legal issue, when putting yourself into the shoes of an employee with a health condition versus a parent they work alongside, it could feel unfair.
The considerations are nuanced, though, and an employer will be thinking of how many employees each type of enhancement will apply to, as well as burden of proof and cost.
Unpaid carers leave
As a rule of thumb, particularly where it comes to carers leave that may be quantified in a new carers policy, it's best to consider how a carer who doesn’t benefit from parental leave, fertility support, menopause care or sick pay etc might feel when they discover that they are only eligible for one week of unpaid carers leave.
Of course, creating a policy-led or contractual commitment is signing an organisation up to unquantified costs. This will always lead to wariness about the costly scenario of supporting an employee who benefits from multiple enhanced allowances.
That’s clearly where benefits spend comes into play, and particularly FlexBen platforms that enable employees to decide for themselves what their priorities are.
Other approaches are possible though, particularly if you are implementing a whole new suite of policies or prepared for a wholesale review.
Statutory contractual plus top-up
This is a solution aimed at giving more equity to employees with different demographics and circumstances.
By being purely compliant with statutory requirements, everybody starts on as level a playing field as the government dictates. From here you can then offer top-ups to paid leave, which could be accessed across the whole range of paid leave types.
Top-ups could exist as a cap per person per leave year, be calculated per leave type in a consistent way relative to statutory (or with a reasonable amount where statutory is unpaid).
The benefit of this approach is clearly that employees feel there is equity.
Potential disadvantages, however, are that for an employee that knows, for instance, that they intend to have children, if the top-up is not competitive with other employers it may not compel them to work for you.
It is also a little more complex to manage, but a flat fixed top-up for any agreed absence would be very simple to administer.
Scrapping absence policies altogether
Definitely a bold choice, but one a REBA Future Forum attendee told us they have pursued.
By doing away with prescriptive approaches to absence, the employer is able to demonstrate trust in the workforce and make a clear statement that absence is normal and discussion is expected.
This may work in a similar way to unlimited paid leave in that people typically take less than they would usually, but such a progressive approach is to be applauded and considered.
After all, we trust our employees with the success of our business, why not trust them to have open and constructive dialogue about their absences?
Among the challenges here are maintaining fairness and consistency across the workforce in how absence is treated, and the risk that managers are inconsistent in their approach, or not able to have nuanced conversations.
It could be possible that this should be an HR-led conversation to ensure fairness and consistency, which may have capacity implications.
Whether you are in the process of reviewing policies, thinking about a carers policy, or simply interested in how you can attract the best, most diverse talent in a culture of fairness, it's clear is that the thought you put into your policies will inform how your employees feel treated by you.
In partnership with Yurtle
Yurtle is an insurance-based employee wellness benefit helping companies to combat caregiver burnout (and the associated productivity and employee turnover losses) in the workplace.
